The Outside
by TheAbsoluteNordork
Summary: A thousand years ago, the world ended. Yet somehow humanity managed to rise up out the ashes and thrive again. However to make sure the human race survives, the people are divided into the Ignoramus and the Acumen, with the Ignoramus being left to die. When Emil is sorted into an Ignoramus, Lukas stays by his side and both are left on their own to try and survive in the Outside...
1. Prologue

**the outside**

* * *

Lukas had never seen the Outside.

Descriptions of the Outside changed depending on who was telling the story. The one favoured by the adults seemed to be that nothing existed. It was a wasteland, land that had long since fell to desertification with the odd rock and mummified tree beneath the barbaric sun. However, the version most favoured by the men at the bar seemed to be that life flourished; animals like the ones in the computers memories ran freely between tall blades of untamed grass. Water flowed through little streams and wide rivers through the earth, twisting and curling like a worm- a paradise for those who escaped to it.

Lukas was sceptical of both stories. One contradicted everything that the teachers had engraved into their minds, but the other just seemed so... hopeless. Lukas refused to believe that there was absolutely nothing outside the fence. He hoped, deep in his heart, that if someone did manage to see the Outside that they would tell of what actually lay beyond the gigantic fence. Was it a paradise or a wasteland? The frustrating thing to him was that he would probably never know.

Thoughts of what lay beyond the fence captured his usually organised mind that morning as he sat with his head rested against the cold glass window of the school bus. His younger brother, Emil, sat next to him on a new gadget that had just been released. The Brain Teaser, they had called it- supposed to be one of the hardest puzzles to solve in this new period of time. Of course, within an hour of its release it had already been solved. Though this was expected; the Government hadn't created it to be unsolvable, merely just a representation of how intelligent the population was.

That reminded him, the IQ test was today.

Lukas shuddered involuntarily. The system the Government used wasn't the best, but it kept the population and the stability of the human race under control. Or at least what was left of the human race. A little over a thousand years ago, on the 28th March 2073, the world had ended. There had been a build up over the decades; increasingly frequent volcanic eruptions and Tsunami occurrences, and then the world had just given up. It was as if the planet itself had had enough and decided to wipe out any living creature that resided on it. No one was exactly sure how it had happened, people could only predict and theorise, but it all ended up with the same conclusion; civilisation had been pushed to the brink of extinction.

However, a number of humans had survived, mainly by hiding in deep underground bunkers constructed before the End- as historians called it- and after at least a few years they resurfaced. Evidence suggested that they had found virtually nothing on the Earth's surface, but either way the remaining humans built a settlement and began to repopulate. During this time, the elders had ordered for a fence to be built around the settlement; mainly to keep the surviving humans inside. They couldn't afford anyone to die.

Needless to say it worked. The settlement grew bigger and bigger until it became what is now known as the City. The ancestors of the elders established a leadership, calling it the Government. The Government was portrayed as a fair system, but Lukas had heard many people refer to it as "totalitarian". He wished he knew what that meant, but you weren't allowed to learn or get involved in politics until you were at least 23. Having only just reached his eighteenth birthday he still had a good six years.

Anyway, the Government had worked well for a century or so until the population and food ratio became unbalanced. There were too many people and not enough food being grown. The seeds and animals only came from that of which the people who had crawled out from the bunkers had had enough sense to take with them. With the less food and ever increasing population, poverty struck. A good 40% of the human race died which was far too many to secure the future of the settlement.

And so the IQ test was imposed.

The IQ test consisted of three stages; a written paper, a mental test and a physical examination. The written test was a series of passages that had to be read, and then written about like an essay. After was the mental test, where the Examiners asked you a series of questions and riddles that you had exactly fifteen seconds to answer. The score you received was added onto your written paper mark. The final- the physical exam- was where you were given different physical tasks to complete. This final score was added onto your two previous scores and then the percentage calculated. The aim of this was to separate what they called the "Ignoramus" from the "Acumen". The level of Ignoramus was below 70%, and those classed as Ignoramus were taken away. Nobody quite knew what happened to them, but much like the divided opinions on the Outside some said that the Ignoramus were put in a separate facility to do the bad jobs around the City, and the others said that the Ignoramus were killed. The latter was quite a popular theory, as it was no secret that the Government only had time for the Acumen. After all, only intelligent people were considered to be able to run the City.

The IQ test began when you were the age of 12 and continued every three years until your brain had fully developed at 25 years old. After that, depending on your level of Acumen, you were given the job you were most suited for. Those in the top percentage went to work alongside the Government as scientists or technicians, whereas those in the lower Acumen levels were given other jobs such as teachers or doctors.

Lukas wasn't particularly bothered by the IQ test. The two times he had taken the test he had received a high percentage. He was destined for great things, his Examiner had told him. Emil on the other hand was terrified. He was obviously distracting himself with the Brain Teaser, as the test made him anxious. The first time he had taken the test he had almost passed out from fear, but he'd still received a fairly good score. At fifteen years old he had only taken the test once, but Lukas was sure he'd get used to the routine of the test eventually.

The bus suddenly stopping jolted Lukas out of his train of thought, and he sat up straighter and looked around. The other kids were getting out of their seats, stretching and discussing plans for the next day- confident that they would pass the test with no problems. Lukas went to stand up and then noticed Emil hadn't moved. The Brain Teasers screen was black, but Emil was staring at it as intently as though it were on. Lukas placed a hand on his brother's shoulder gently, sending him a small and rare smile when he looked up.

"You'll be fine," he muttered. "It's only a test. I'm surprised you aren't in the top percentage of Acumen from the amount of time you spend on that Teaser." That made Emil smile weakly and stand up, stuffing the Brain Teaser in his bag.

"Yeah... I'm surprised that you haven't been labelled as an Ignoramus from the amount of attention you pay in class." Lukas rolled his eyes.

"So am I."

With that, they joined the back of the queue and got off the bus.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello everyone! Welcome to my fanfiction, _The Outside_! Don't ask me how I came up with this- I have no freaking idea. Well... it was three in the morning...

Anyway!

This will be mainly set from Lukas's point of view, but not in first person. If that makes sense. If there's anything you, the lovely reader, are confused about feel free to ask me. It's better if you get what's happening now in order to understand the story better.

That's all from me for now, so I hope you all enjoy!

 **DISCLAIMER:** Hetalia and all the canon characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya.

 **This story belongs to myself (TheAbsoluteNordork) and is also copyrighted to myself** ©

* * *

 **Definitions:**

 **28th March 2073-** Just to clarify there is no significance to this date whatsoever. I looked at predictions for when the world would end, but there is just so many...! So yeah. Completely random date.

 **Totalitarian-** controlling the people of a country in a very strict way with complete power that cannot be opposed.

 **Ignoramus-** literally means an ignorant or stupid person.

 **Acumen-** the ability to make good judgements and take quick decisions.


	2. The IQ Test

**the iq test**

* * *

"Now, I know you are all nervous, but every single one of you are intelligent and do not think for a second you aren't." The General History teacher perched on the edge of the platform that served as his desk and looked around the room. His gaze wasn't harsh and mocking like some of the teachers in the building, instead it was soft, reassuring yet determined. He wasn't a teacher taken too seriously; his eyes were too bright with young curiosity, a brilliant green, and a head full of untamed curls to match his slightly immature appearance.

"That's not true."

The teacher lifted his head slightly more, fixing the child who had called out with a curious stare.

"And why is that, Lovino?" The boy, named Romano, visibly winced when he was addressed by his real name other than the nickname everybody else in the school called him by, the permanent frown on his face deepening even more.

"Well, we're divided into people who are stupid and people who aren't stupid. So how can you tell us that none of us are stupid?" The teacher shook his head.

"Please don't use the word "stupid". It's not very pleasant." He wet his lips and sat fully on the desk, crossing his legs and resting his arms on his bent knees. "No one is stupid. People just have a lesser ability to learn than others. A lot of people don't do well under pressure, too... for example; do you remember what I said a few weeks ago about those geniuses before the End?" The majority of the class nodded. "Well, Albert Einstein was a terrible student. He couldn't speak very well and many teachers thought he was mentally handicapped. He even left school early." The teacher smiled. "But now look. He became a genius and made one of the most famous equations known to man. M equals ec squared."

Romano frowned. "Isn't it e equals mc squared?" The other male made a face.

"Whoops. That's what I meant, c equals em squared." Some of the students snickered. "Well, same thing." The teacher said, winking at them. "But see what I mean? No one is stupid, just remember that." He glanced at the digital clock that hung from the wall and wet his lips. He was nervous for his students; the Government didn't even let them finish their education before taking them away to who knows where. Like everyone, he had his own opinion on what happened to those who were classed as Ignoramus... and if his theory was correct this would be the last time he would see some of their faces. The last IQ test this class had he'd barely completed teachers training, but even after teaching these teenagers for a year and a half he felt some sort of connection.

"Mr Carriedo?" A young girls voice made him look back round.

"Yes?"

"How long have we got?"

"A few minutes... Before you go and show the Examiners how clever you are, let's do a quiz." He hopped down off his desk and went to the electronic board. He tapped it with his finger and it came to life. He pressed on a few small buttons before a question came up on the screen;

 _What years was the American Revolutionary War?_

A hand shot up in the air, a little too enthusiastically. Mr Carriedo smiled at the boy the hand belonged to- a fairly loud and slightly pudgy blond boy by the name of Alfred.

"April 19th 1775 to September 3rd 1783!"

"Well done!" The teacher said, then went to press the next question, before a heavy clanging sound ran through the air, causing what felt like the entire school to go quiet. He paused and listened, dread seizing his heart. The unmistakable chiming of the bell on top of the school was dully ringing, the echo ricocheting throughout the building. Lukas looked up from the book on his lap that he had been absorbed in, closing it carefully. Mr Carriedo looked at the anxious faces of his pupils and gave them the brightest smile he could manage.

"Just remember what I said; no one is stupid. You're all intelligent in your own way." With that, he gestured for them to stand. Lukas kept his cool demeanour, unlike some of his fellow classmates. A girl at the front even started crying. He watched as Mr Carriedo attempted to calm her down, crouching in front of her desk and whispering some things to her. Lukas had a lot of respect for him- he tried, tried so hard to make it better. But no one was fooled. They weren't children after all, and their sole purpose was to look at the cold hard facts and accept them.

Some of the kids here were never going to be seen again.

A few minutes later, the Examiner for their class appeared at the door. He went over the rules and then said they would be called out individually in alphabetical order. After the test was completed they were allowed to go home, then their scores would be read out in the City Building in front of them, their parents and some members of the Government. The City Building was a building situated next to the Government Building, a place that was specifically for calling out the percentages of the IQ test.

The Examiner held up a small board and pressed a few buttons, before calling out the first name;

"Lukas Bondevik. If you would follow me, please." All eyes turned towards Lukas, who stood up straighter and walked through the rows of desks from his place at the back of the room. He turned to look back at the others, and met his teachers eyes. Mr Carriedo smiled at him, though it looked strained. _Bonam fortunam_ , he mouthed.

 **XoXoX**

The room Lukas found himself in reminded him of those prison cells he'd been taught about in Law classes.

There were no windows, just pristine white walls with a pristine white ceiling and a pristine white floor. He was glad the test only took about thirty minutes- he couldn't stand it in here. Lukas was sat on a far from comfortable chair at a solitary desk that contained a single pencil pot and three pieces of paper. He knew the Examiner was watching him from the camera in the top right-hand corner of the room, already marking him. Lukas wet his lips and selected a pen from the pencil pot, before looking at each of the papers. One contained the extracts, the next explained what had to be written about, and the last had to be written on. Once he had read through the first two, the Examiners voice sounded round the room.

"You have exactly ten minutes, Mr Bondevik. _Bonam fortunam_." Lukas nodded, and began writing

Ten minutes later he found himself in the second stage of the test. The room was similar to the first, still reminding him of a prison cell but now with a heavier weight in the air. The first test had gone considerably well, he had included as much as he could on the paper and was relatively satisfied when he was directed into the adjacent room. It was the same layout as before, with a desk, but now with two chairs. Lukas sat on one chair and his Examiner sat in the other across from him. His fingers were tapping on the board, obviously organising a set of questions, before he set the board on the table and placed a hand on top of the digital clock on the left hand side of the desk. This Examiner was younger than their previous one, with short blond hair and blue eyes that were circled by a pair of thick oval glasses.

"Alright, Mr Bondevik, I'm assuming you know what is going to happen now?" Lukas nodded, forcing his face to stay blank. This test was the one he feared out of the three. Not only was it the hardest, but it was the one that mainly influenced the percentage score. This was the one that really determined whether you were Acumen or Ignoramus. The Examiner nodded and placed the board in front of Lukas, before hitting the button on the clock. There were a total of 66 questions that had to be answered in the ten minutes, with a 15 second time lapse in order to think about your answer.

Five minutes into the test, Lukas was feeling confident. He hadn't got a single one wrong and he was certain he'd finish the test in under the time limit... until he reached the 36th question;

 _What was the name of the famous Danish author who wrote children's fairy tales?_

Lukas froze. A cold fear seeped into his stomach and clawed up his chest, making his eyes widen and his palms sweat. He didn't know. He really didn't know. This... this was General History, right? Had Mr Carriedo taught this? The clock ticked down the seconds, his hands lingering above the buttons. Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God. Suddenly the time was up and the next question flashed on the screen. He felt his hands shaking slightly, but forced his mind to forget about it. One question didn't matter. He would be fine... wouldn't he?

Before he knew it the ten minutes were up and he was lead to the next room. His legs felt like jelly and his hands were trembling from the pressure. He _thought_ he did pretty damn well, but then again it wasn't his opinion that mattered when they calculated the percentages... Maybe he should have paid more attention in General History rather then pass the time reading books.

"Mr Bondevik?" Lukas snapped out of his thoughts and stared at the Examiner, who was watching him with a concerned face. "Are you alright?" Lukas nodded frantically and steeled the softened features of his face. Now wasn't the time to dwell on it- he had to complete the test.

This room was a gymnasium of sorts. Obstacles were placed in random places, marked out by ropes. Beneath each obstacle, however, was a body of fairly deep water. Lukas wet his lips.

"Here you will complete this obstacle course. The rules have not changed but people seem to forget them, so I will go over them again." The Examiner stared at the board and pressed a few buttons. "If you touch and/or fall in the water you are disqualified from the test. The percentage will be judged on how fast you complete the course. Understood?" Lukas nodded again and then stood at the beginning of the course, his feet shoulder length apart. The first challenge was jumping up onto a beam that ran all the way round the course. It was about 10 centimetres wide, barely big enough for one foot let alone two.

The Examiner counted down and as soon as he reached zero, Lukas jumped up onto the beam and began to skilfully run along it. Many people had commented on how Lukas reminded them of a feline, the way he walked and his whole passive-aggressive (mainly aggressive) attitude. The beam carried on for a few meters until it was broken by a set of bars that meant he had to use his arms to swing across. Lukas reached up and took one bar in between his cold fingers, before kicking upwards and grabbing the next bar. He didn't have great upper arm strength as he was not one for sport, but the adrenaline suddenly coursing through his veins gave him enough strength and willpower to get to the other side. He carried on along the beam before reaching the second obstacle. It was an even thinner beam that wobbled unstably and tilted depending on where you were standing. Lukas bit his lip and stood on the beam, almost losing his balance. Nevertheless he regained his composure and carefully walked to the centre of the beam, allowing his centre of gravity to tilt it down to the other beam. He walked across it and then moved along to the final obstacle.

The final task was apparently jumping across a few "stepping stones" to get to the final beam. It sounded simple enough, but the poles that served as the "stones" varied in length and also seemed to be spaced farther apart towards the end. Lukas swallowed hard then stepped on the first pole. The water beneath him shimmered in the artificial light, illuminating Lukas's figure. Pale blond hair held back on one side by a clip and dark blue eyes that could be mistaken for black in limited light. He watched his reflection for a second or two to try and calm the racing of his heart, before he hopped across to the next pole. He carried on like this until he got to the further ones, since they required more of a jump and a lot of balance. He took a deep breath and then leapt to the next one. He let out a sharp yelp as his momentum almost threw him over into the cold water below, but he managed to stay upright and jumped to the final one, then onto the last stretch of beam. Lukas practically ran down this last part and jumped off onto the solid ground on the other end with a huge sigh of relief. He'd done it, and without falling in.

The Examiner smiled at him and pressed a few buttons on the board.

"Well done, Lukas. That was very good timing indeed." He motioned for Lukas to follow him- which he did- and lead him out of the Physical test room and into the field at the back of the school. He spared a glance to his left where a row of Examination rooms stood, two classes assigned to each. The Examiner gestured to the gate on the other side of the field which served as the front entrance for the school. "You're allowed to go home now. I'll see you in the City Building tomorrow." With that, he adjusted the glasses he was wearing and went back inside the building.

Lukas stayed standing on the field for a few more minutes, debating whether or not he should wait for Emil, but then decided against it. It was customary within the City that you had two children or more children, preferably an equal amount of each gender, and then gave half the surname of the mother and the other half the surname of the father. This- apparently- made sure no last names died out. No one was exactly sure _why_ that was so important, but they followed the rule anyway. Lukas was named after his mother, sharing the last name Bondevik, whilst Emil shared the name of their father- Steilsson. This therefore meant Emil was much further down in the list, being an "S", and it would be a while before he finished his test. So instead, Lukas began walking across the field as the start of the long trek back home.

 **XoXoX**

"So how do you think you did?" Lukas looked up from his food to Emil, who sat across the dinner table. The platinum-blond boy had barely touched his food, instead choosing to play with the toy puffin he had had since he was a toddler. Ever since he'd come back home after his IQ test he had been quiet. It was not uncharacteristic of Emil, but Lukas could sense there was something on his brother's mind. He was surprised that is was Emil who addressed it first, but went along with it nonetheless.

"I... _like_ to think I did well," Lukas responded, eating another mouthful of rice. "I didn't do so well on the mental test. What about you?" Emil was quiet for a few seconds, gentle stroking the top of the toys head.

"Um... well... I think I passed the mental test and written test... but I almost fell in the water in the physical test. That cost me a lot of time." Lukas nodded in understanding and ate the last of his rice before sitting up straight.

"I'm sure you'll do fine. They don't particularly care about the physical; it's more the mental and the written. Buying that Teaser really did pay off." Emil smiled a little, comforted by the words, and began eating. Lukas cleared his plate away and put it in the sink, before turning round and leaning against the counter. The room wasn't illuminated particularly well, but the reflection on the monochrome tiles created quite a homely effect. In fact, the Bondevik- Steilsson household was quite a homely and welcoming place; just what you would expect from a family such as theirs.

"Where are mother and father?" Emil asked, finishing off the last grains of rice. Lukas sighed.

"At work still, I would imagine. Their job requires a lot of attention during the IQ tests." Emil nodded slowly and stood up, swiftly placing his plate in the sink. Their parents happened to work within the Government and were mainly given the tasks of overseeing the scores from the IQ tests and making sure everything added up correctly. After all, the Government didn't want an Acumen being mistaken for an Ignoramus and vice versa, even if the calculations were done by artificial intelligence. Their father was a very adventurous and bold man, one who held his family close to his heart and put them first. He wasn't particularly old, but he was kind and gentle. Their mother on the other hand was quite the opposite; a seemingly cold woman who didn't show that much emotion, nevertheless she still held her family dear and did what she could for them. Anyone could see that Emil took more after his father and Lukas more after his mother, hence why they were given the last names of each.

Lukas studied the digital clock on the wall and stretched.

"It's getting late, Emil. We should go to bed. We have a big day tomorrow." Emil made a face, but complied, bidding Lukas a good night then heading up to his room on the second floor. Lukas stayed in the kitchen to wash the dishes, before he headed upstairs also. At the top of the stairs however, he paused. The large window that was embedded in the wall opposite framed the crescent moon in the sky like a curator might frame a painting. Would he look at the moon in the same way tomorrow? It was always a possibility that he would get sorted into an Ignoramus... but then it was a greater possibility he would get sorted into an Acumen...

Well, there was no point worrying about it now.

He would just have to wait for tomorrow.

* * *

 **A/N:** Wow that was a long chapter! You have no idea how long it took for me to try and describe what the test was like xD also, any guesses on which nation the Examiner was? I left a few clues~

Anyway, now that that's done I guess I can get on with the real story. Right? Right. Also, thank you to everyone who reviewed- seeing positive feedback is a massive confide boost for me :)

Alrighty then, I guess I'll see you guys in the next chapter! Farvel!

* * *

 **Definitions**

 **Albert Einstein-** Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist. He developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics. He also created the famous equation; E = mc2

 **American Revolutionary War-** The American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War of Independence and the Revolutionary War in the United States, was the armed conflict between Great Britain and thirteen of its North American colonies, which had declared themselves the independent United States of America.

 **Hans Christian Andersen-** Hans Christian Andersen was a famous Danish author who wrote many children's Fairy Tales, like The Little Mermaid and many others.

 ** _Bonam fortunam_** **-** this is Latin for "good luck". I personally think it sounded cool and because just saying "good luck" is waaaaaaaaay too boring.


	3. The Results

**the results**

* * *

Lukas woke to the sound of raised voices.

He stayed perfectly still; one ear tilted towards the source of noise. His eyes flicked towards the digital clock next to him. 1:43 in the morning. He focused on the voices, one high pitched, dominating and quite exasperated. Lukas could only place that as his mothers. The other was lower pitched, a lot more gentle and strangely melodic- his fathers.

His parents were arguing?

Lukas sat up and swung his legs out of bed and into the indoor shoes that he left at the foot of it. He crept across the floor to the door, opening it and glancing down the corridor. He was met with the frightened, drowsy eyes of Emil, who was standing outside his bedroom.

"Go back to sleep." Lukas told him as he walked past towards the staircase. Emil obeyed and disappeared back inside the room, shutting the door firmly. Lukas padded down the stairs, stopping half way and sitting down. From there he could see the living room, where his parents were. His mother was pacing the length of the front room, her long very pale hair tied into a tight bun. His father was sitting on a chair, his hands in his darker blond hair.

"- supposed to do?! There must be some mistake!" He caught his mother saying. Her normally stoic face was contorted with worry, her cheeks paler than usual.

"I can't believe it... I just can't..." his father muttered softly, staring at the floor. "How could this happen...?"

"But what do we do, Niels?! What _can we do_?!"

"Let me think about it..." his mother sat on another chair and buried her face in her hands.

"This is ridiculous. We'll tell them to recalculate it. There must be a mistake."  
"They won't listen-"

"Well we have to try!" She snapped, standing up again and resuming her pacing. "We have to try! I won't let this happen without a fight!"  
"Lovise..." his father stood and held her face gently in his fingertips, making her look up. "Don't worry. I'm not saying we won't try- we will. I'll go and see to it right now. Please, just don't stress."  
"How can I not?" She whispered. "One of our children is an _Ignoramus_. You know what happens to the Ignoramus! They're left to _die_!"

Lukas's eyes widened. W... what did she just say? _What did she just say?_ He rose slowly, having heard enough, and slowly walked back up the stairs. He felt as if he were in a dream, his heart thumping so hard he thought it would rip through his chest. That cold fear he had experienced in the IQ test seeped into his stomach once again and froze the blood in his veins, draining his face of the little colour it already had.

So... so that's what happened to the Ignoramus.

They _were_ killed.

What was even worse was that... that one of the Bondevik- Steilsson brothers had failed the test.

His footsteps were heavy on the floor, the nylon rustling quietly under his shoes. He couldn't think straight, it was as if his mind had switched off. What... what if it wasn't him? All these years he'd been protecting Emil from the bullies at the school, protecting him from cutting himself on knives, protecting him from becoming an Ignoramus...

And it was all futile.

"Lukas? Are you ok?" Lukas blinked. He found himself in Emil's bedroom doorway; the slightly illuminated figure of Emil and his toy puffin on his bed directly in front of him. Without a word, Lukas walked over to the bed, took off his shoes, gently folded back the duvet and climbed into it with his younger brother. Emil looked shocked- this was very uncharacteristic of his brother. Trying to wheedle any emotion from Lukas took a lot of effort, so he voluntarily showing it was... terrifying. It scared Emil. He didn't say anything when Lukas slid his arm under Emil's head, resting his chin on top of his platinum hair.

"Lukas...?" He whispered again, trying to look up at him, but being restrained by the others own firm grip. "W-what happened? Were they arguing?"  
"Just go to sleep, Emil." Lukas responded without thinking, his tone flat and final. With an anxious wetting of his lips, Emil closed his eyes and tried to savour the warmth emanating from his brother, the puffin wedged in between their chests. Even after the younger had fallen asleep, Lukas remained awake. He stared at the wall by Emil's bed, listening to the even breaths the other let out, the rise and fall of his brother's chest against his own. As he lay there, he thought of possible ways around it. There must be some sort of way. There _had_ to be. His parents were going to sort it out... right? He closed his eyes, atypical tears beginning to form in the corners of them and a bitter feeling encompassing his heart.

But if his parents couldn't find any loopholes or calculation errors...

One of them was going to die.

 **XoXoX**

Lukas wasn't himself the next morning.

It was pretty difficult in the first place to pin a sort of personality on Lukas, since he usually covered every defined feature with an expressionless face and a bored tone of voice. But something was off. Everyone in the small family could sense it. No one was quite alright that morning, or so Emil noted; their mother seemed a little too clumsy and their father focused on the book he was apparently reading, yet the last time he had turned the page was 10 minutes ago.

What was going on? What did the others know that he didn't?

When it was time to go, their mother seemed to linger on them a little more than was necessary. She straightened out the collars on the formal clothes they had picked out and even stopped to brush the bangs out of Emil's eyes and level out both sides of Lukas's fringe. After they had finished getting ready, their parents gave them both a rare hug and wished them luck in the way that all people inside the City did, as they would not get a chance when they reached the City Building.

Emil had never been to the City Building before, and he had to admit it was very majestic. Cream pillars held up polished stone at the entrance, with neatly cut steps leading up to it. The material for the actual structure was a mixture of limestone, bricks and glass, allowing outside spectators to see inside. All Government buildings were ostentatious and proud, there to impress and threaten. Lukas felt his breath catch in his throat when the car stopped and they got out; at least a thousand or so people were in the building or standing outside. They watched as Lukas and Emil walked through the parted crowd, most people giving the two reassuring words or the odd kind smile. When they got inside, the family separated. It was structured a little like those theatres Lukas had seen in General History, so their parents joined the rest of the Government IQ officials, the five Examiners and the supervising elder at the very bottom. Lukas and Emil joined the nervous faces of their classmates on the very first row. The teachers had a small space in the third row, each of them with grave faces. Mr Carriedo caught Lukas's eye and gave him what the young teacher hoped was a reassuring smile.

A few more minutes passed, in which the rest of the school filed in and stood to attention in the rows, murmuring among themselves, until an elder stepped forward and held up a hand.

"Thank you all for joining us in the City Building for the results of the IQ test," she began, looking around the expanse of the room, her long brown hair neatly curled and hanging loosely over her shoulders and back. "I am elder Héderváry and I will oversee the results of the IQ test. Now, you will be divided into two groups as of today and will be sorted accordingly. Acumen will return to the stands alongside their parents. Ignoramus will go through the door to my left..." she gestured to a heavy door. "...To receive further instruction. That is all. Would the instructor of class AC12 please read the results?" With that she stepped back and sat on the chair that had been provided.

Lukas wet his lips. Class AC12 was the one before him, so his class would be next. The first examiner, a male with strangely cut brown hair and teal eyes, stepped forward holding a board.

"I am Examiner Karpusi and I Examined the class of AC12... Here are the results..." With that he cleared his throat and began reading down the list. It all seemed to be going well, until the first Ignoramus was singled out. "Feliciano Vargas, Ignoramus."  
There was a sharp intake of breath from most of the school students. Feliciano was possibly the nicest, albeit cowardly, person in the place, and also happened to be Romano's younger brother. Lukas spared a glance to Romano, whose eyes were widened in fear. The quaking form of Feliciano walked down the steps, tears in his eyes, as every single pair of eyes in and outside the room stared at him. When he passed the elder, he bowed his head and went through the door without a word. Romano seemed to recover and went to snarl something undoubtedly insulting, but Mr Carriedo placed a hand on his shoulder, keeping him in place. Romano glared up at him, then let out a choked noise and also bowed his head, gripping the rail in front of him so tightly his knuckles turned white, frustrated tears burning in his eyes.

Lukas nibbled his lower lip anxiously. Oh, he knew exactly why Romano hadn't moved. Anyone who tried to stop this from being carried out was stopped then humiliatingly led away by one of the guards stationed around the Building. These guards were known as the Acumen Law Enforcement and Intelligence Force, or more commonly ALEIF's. They usually consisted of muscular and robust men, the ones who passed the IQ tests and were considered physically fit enough.

Once Examiner Karpusi had read out the rest of the list (all Acumen), he stepped down and Lukas's examiner stepped forward, pushing up his glasses and addressing the hall.

"Good morning, my name is Examiner von Bock and I will be reading out the test results for the class AC50." With that he looked back down and read out the first name. In that moment, Lukas locked eyes with his father, who immediately avoided his gaze. W-wait... that wasn't a good sign. Lukas barely had time to prepare himself before-

"Lukas Bondevik, Acumen."

...

If... if he was Acumen... that... th-that meant... His eyes widened and he resisted the temptation to look back at Emil, his gut clenching horribly. Oh crap. Crap crap crap crap _crap_.

It was Emil.

He had been sorted into an Ignoramus.

The rest of the names passed by without registering in Lukas's brain. The only Ignoramus in his class was the boy named Alfred, who he vaguely remembered waltzing out the room with his still confident aura encircling him. The next Examiner stepped forward and then the one after, with a total of four other Ignoramus being ushered through the door.

Then it came to Emil's class.

When the last Examiner stepped up, board in hand and read out the names, Lukas snapped back to attention. Didn't his parents say they would straighten it out? There must have been some sort of miscalculation or mistake. There must have been. He refused to believe anything else. When he heard the word "Ignoramus", he panicked and looked up, desperately hoping it wasn't Emil. Instead, a small and timid blond boy stumbled down the steps, his blue eyes dimmed with unknown fear. Lukas had seen that boy around school, always getting picked on, and it came as a slight surprise to him that his name had been called...

Then before he knew it, it was time for Emil to be sorted.

"Emil Steilsson..."

Please, Lukas prayed, please please please please. He had never ever wished for anything more in his life. Just please be Acumen. Please, whatever entity was out there, any God of any religion that was willing to listen. Take anything just please spare -

"Ignoramus."

 **XoXoX**

Lukas's mind blanked out after the simple yet so effective word escaped the Examiners lips.

In that split second, the Bondevik- Steilsson's lives had been viciously torn down, all Lukas's hopes, all his greatest fears, crushed and melded into one. He watched, helplessly, as Emil, ashen-faced and walking with robotic steps, walked past him down the steps. His fingers helplessly grasped at the seams of his brown jacket, the attire that was too casual to be considered formal and too formal to be considered casual. That snapped Lukas out of his daydream, and just as Emil was about to step through the door, Lukas shoved through the people on his row.

"No, wait!" He yelled desperately, ignoring the startled looks his classmates, his own parents, the Examiners and even the elder gave him. "Emil!"

Emil turned his head, his eyes lighting up. "Lukas!" He called back, taking a step towards him. Then a second later he was gone, blocked by the thick bodies of the guards. Lukas cursed and tried to push past them, but their strong and calloused hands restrained him, gripping his arms tightly, refusing him movement. The boy did not give up; he thrashed around, kicking, scratching and punching for all he was worth.

"LET ME GO!" He screamed. "LET ME SEE MY BROTHER!"

More hands seized his frail body, spurring his fighting and making him more hysterical. He screamed and cursed, spat and hissed, tried everything to stop the bodies pressing in on him. Somewhere in the sea of confusion, he could hear the voices of his parents... but he didn't want to know them right now. As far as Lukas was concerned, it was their fault. They hadn't prevented it like they said they would. They were going to let their own son be killed and the betrayal stung like no other pain he had experienced before. The grips on his arms were becoming painful, and he screeched even louder, completely losing control of his normal stoic attitude. At that moment, he really couldn't care less. His mother's words kept ringing through his ears like the droning of an alarm; _"You know what happens to the Ignoramus! They're left to die!"_

He then became acutely aware of a sharp prick in his arm, followed by a rapid coldness, before his mind emptied and everything faded to black.

* * *

 **A/N:** Aaaaaaaand there we go! Ugh, I've been waiting to try and get it up to this point. Hopefully now it will get more interesting since it's slowly (but surely) getting to the main storyline!

Thank you to everyone that reviewed, you have no idea how much it helps. It also cheers me up too~! Yay!

See you guys in the next chapter!


	4. The Unknown

**the unknown**

* * *

Lukas's eyes flew open and he bolted upright.

As soon as he did his mind became fuzzy and his vision distorted; fatigue weighing down his limbs like cement blocks. Regardless, he managed to push himself up and off what he was lying on. Lukas took a few steps and then almost fell into a wall, quickly holding on to a small cabinet to support himself. He remained in that position for some time, focusing on his laboured breathing instead of the furious pounding in his head. After what seemed like an hour, the throbbing began to subside and the weight holding down his legs lightened considerably. The edges of his vision cleared, allowing him to get a better look at his surroundings. The room was small; the space taken up by the bed, the cabinet and some sort of toilet, with the walls an immaculate white and the floor a grey-black colour.

Lukas frowned. He didn't recognise this place- he hadn't ever been in a room like this before. The lack of décor reminded him of that in the IQ test rooms, except the atmosphere was a lot lighter here, devoid of anything really. He focused on a heavy steel door in front of him which had a small glass window at his eye-level. With shaky legs he stumbled over and looked out of it. An empty corridor greeted him, which made him feel incredibly anxious. Was this some sort of holding pen?

Where was Emil?

The thought struck him like a bolt of lightning and he whirled around, looking for a camera or some sort of screen or anything that could conceal _someone_.

"Hello?" He called out, slightly desperately. "Hello?!"

When no answer came he paced in the little space he had, mind frantically trying to find a way out of this situation. He was stuck in a room with no means of communication. How long had he been here? Where was "here"? Was… was Emil dead? No, he didn't even want to think about that.

At least three-quarters of an hour went by before Lukas thought he heard the sound of distant voices. He froze and cocked an ear towards the door. The voices were too muffled for him to make out what they were saying, but he felt hope swell in his chest like a balloon. Once again he moved over to the door and peered through the glass, this time seeing three unfamiliar figures marching his way. He instinctively moved back and clasped his hands in front of him, flinching when the door slid open to reveal the three people. The middle one looked calm with deep black hair cut into strange sideburns around his ears and dull brown eyes. He was carrying a board and an air of unspoken authority. To his left and right stood ALEIF's. The one on the left was unnaturally tall and had a shock of gelled-up hair, unfriendly green eyes and a small scar above one. The one on the right was significantly shorter, but radiated the same threatening atmosphere as the taller one, his green eyes narrowed and piercing.

Lukas knew then that he had messed up.

"Mr Bondevik." The man in the middle said, his tone quiet and unobtrusive. "If you would follow me, please." With that he turned and walked back down the corridor. Lukas, after a moments pause, stepped out of the room and trailed after the black-haired male, the two guards marching close by him.

After a few sharp turns the corridor ended with a large door made with frosted glass. The man stopped at it, turning to look at Lukas and the two ALEIF's.

"Please do not worry, Mr Bondevik." He said simply. "This is merely a… questioning session." Before Lukas could respond, the male pushed on the glass and lead them into the adjoining room.

 **XoXoX**

As soon as the boy stepped foot into the room- though "hall" would be a much more appropriate word- Lukas knew where he was.

Unlike the City Building, there was one relatively short row along the end wall, with a number of seats lining the rest of the hall. Guards were dotted around various places, watching the four that had entered with suspicious eyes. At the row sat six people, five men and one female, all waiting patiently for Lukas and the man (the guards that had accompanied them remained by the door) to reach them. There were a few people in the rows, who all stood up as soon as the door opened. Lukas hadn't paid any attention to them, but as he passed he noticed two very familiar figures. His mother and father.

Lukas only glanced at them, then turned away. He still hadn't forgiven them, and he knew he wouldn't. Now was not the time to stare them down, though. There were slightly more pressing matters.

He recognised one of the elders from the City Building, and another from his first year and the year before- elder Héderváry, elder Kirkland and elder Wang- but the others he didn't recognise. The man stopped a few meters away from them and politely asked Lukas to stand on a specific spot, before joining his fellow elders. The boy wet his lips nervously, though his face betrayed no such emotion.

"Mr Bondevik," elder Kirkland began. "Do you know why you're here?" Lukas raised an eyebrow.

"I would assume it has something to do with trying to reach my brother when he was sentenced to death?" He said as coldly as he could. Kirkland frowned.

"You do know that it isn't a sentencing, merely a-"

"That is not important right now." One of the other elders, a man with dark brown hair, glasses and a small mole below his lips stated. "However, you assume correctly." He then looked pointedly at elder Héderváry, who nodded and raised her head a little more.

"Lukas Bondevik," she began. "A few hours ago, whilst the IQ test results were being read out by Examiner Williams, you disrupted it by pushing past people in order to reach your brother who has been classed as an Ignoramus." Lukas remained silent, instead fixing Héderváry with an icy glare. She met his gaze just as challengingly and carried on. "You were then tranquilised as a way of containing your violent behaviour and put in one of the Holding Cells in the Government Buildings. Do you realise how serious a violation this is of the rules?"

"Yes." He responded simply. The younger elders looked a little startled.

"You also realise this is an act of treason?" Héderváry asked dubiously.

"How so?" Lukas countered. The man who had brought him in looked down at his board, tapping a few things before clearing his throat.

"Firstly you sparked some sort of hope in others minds. After you passed out, one of your fellow students attempted to run after his brother, but was promptly stopped." Someone else tried? "Secondly, this is an attempted rebellion against the clear rules made by those in power. With this violation your punishment has already been decided." Behind him, his father let out a choked noise.

"You mean you've already sentenced him?! What sort of ridiculous rule is that?! He just tried to stop his brother from-" the one in the middle, a man with shoulder-length, glossy blond hair and deep blue eyes held up a hand to silence him.

"The Acumen society has no time or space for rebellious figures. Since you are the one who sparked this small rebellion you will be punished. Your fate is sealed and no alterations can be made." His mother grit her teeth and went to snap something, when Lukas spoke up.

"From the way you are talking about it, I can only guess that as punishment you are sending me with those destined for the Outside." There were some gasps from the various people in the room, who looked up at the Government elders with mild horror.

"… Yes." Elder Wang replied.

"Are you serious?!" Mrs Bondevik screeched. She had lost the ability to conceal her emotions yet again. "You're giving him a _death sentence_?! Both my sons?! What sort of-"

"Mother." Lukas's clipped tone cut through the air. "If that's the sentence they have decided on, so be it." His father stared at him with wide eyes that mirrored Emil's. He temporarily lost the ability to speak- his own son agreeing to his death?- before he understood why Lukas was so calm. If he joined the Ignoramus, then he would be with Emil. Emil wouldn't be on his own when… when he died.

His father stared at him a while longer, meeting Lukas's own eyes, before he let out a shaky breath. In his heart of hearts, he knew there was no changing this. The elders had already decided, and by the looks of it so had Lukas.

He was going to lose both of his sons.

"… F… fine." He said quietly. He felt the gaze of every person in the room boring into him. "We, the parents, also condone the sentence." His mother looked at his father with a mixed expression of disgust and confusion. She looked helplessly from her husband, to the elders, to her son and back again. Then she sat down and buried her face in her hands, shoulders shaking with her violent sobs. The elders glanced at each other, then at Lukas. The one with the mole then stood, dusted off his clothes and looked harshly down at the boy.

"I, elder Edelstein, therefore revoke Mr Lukas Bondevik's earlier score. He is now classed as Ignoramus and will hence be sent along with the other Ignoramus to the Outside. Guards, will you escort him down to the other Ignoramus, please." With one last glare, Lukas turned towards the two guards by the door, who walked forward and then marched him out of the hall, his mother's despaired sobs filling the sudden quietness of the space.

 **XoXoX**

The two guards led him through a maze of corridors and doors, so many that he lost count. The pressure in the air seemed to grow heavier the more they walked, giving Lukas the impression that perhaps they were going underground, or at least further into this complex.

After at least twenty minutes of walking, they came to a heavy door and the taller guard pulled out a key and began fumbling with the lock. As he did this, Lukas glanced at the other guard and frowned. He didn't seem much older than himself. The ALEIF caught him looking and glared at him.

"What?" Lukas glared back.

"Nothing."  
"Then don't stare." With that, he roughly pushed Lukas through the open door and shut it behind him, locking it again. The boy wet his lips and looked around. Yet another corridor. Did this place solely consist of corridors?

He paused when he heard voices. A rectangle of light was shining on the nylon a couple of meters away, signifying a doorway. With some newfound hope Lukas walked forward until he reached the opening in the wall and peered inside. Inside were seven people, three of whom he recognised instantly.

Alfred was the first to notice him, looking up from where he was in an intense argument with another of the Ignoramus. He blinked, his glasses twinkling in the light, before his face split into a grin.

"Aw, you're Ignoramus too, Lukas? They mess up the scores or something?" At his name, all the others looked up, including Emil, who was by himself in the corner. Emil let out a choked gasp and practically jumped to his feet.

"Lukas!" He threw his arms around Lukas and hugged him tightly. Lukas was a little taken-aback, the two were close but affection had never been something favoured, nevertheless he hugged him back with just as much enthusiasm. After a while he pushed away and met the stares of everyone else in the room. The only girl scoffed slightly and went back to fiddling with her dress. She had long blond hair with a ribbon nestled in the top of it and an aura that was quite similar to Lukas's. The others were boys, varying in ages. The youngest was the one who had been called before Emil, who sat there trembling next to the one other Lukas recognised. Feliciano was whispering something to the child, attempting to make him smile, his eyes calm and warm. The one Alfred had been in a heated discussion with had light brown hair that fell over one of his eyes, accompanied by a deep frown on his face. The last was a man around the same age as Lukas, if not slightly older, with pitch black hair and bright green eyes.

Alfred stood up straight and gave Lukas a thumbs up.

"So we're all Ignoramus! That's just great. I was explaining to Maes here," he gestured to the brown haired boy. "How we could survive with just a few resources!"

"And I was explaining to Jones," the other boy stated. "How it would be quite improbable since we would need a source of water and food. If it's desert in the Outside we're all going to die." A heavy silence fell in the room, broken when the small blond boy let out a sob.

"Let's not talk about that," Feliciano said quietly, looking up at Alfred with fearful eyes. The black haired boy nodded in agreement. To break the awkwardness and to change the lingering subject, the brown haired boy smiled nervously at Lukas.

"Um… hello. My name's Maxim."

"Lukas," he responded with a nod. Maxim seemed to relax a little more and gestured to the others.

"This lady here is Natalya. The one over there with the curly hair is Raivis. The black-haired one is Dmitri and I'm sure you already know Feliciano, Emil and Alfred." Lukas nodded in response.

"Are you and Emil friends or…?" Maxim asked, sitting on the table Natalya had claimed for herself.

"We're brothers…" Emil said, a little shyly and shuffled closer to Lukas.

"Oh, really?" Maxim said, trying to keep up the small talk. "My brother's an ALEIF and my sister is a doctor."

"My brother's an ALEIF too." Natalya commented. Maxim chuckled dryly.

"Well, learn something new every day…" he trailed off, the heavy silence taking over again. It stayed like that for a while, until Dmitri said; "Ten minutes."

Maxim, Feliciano and Alfred looked up at the digital clock on the wall and winced.

"Until what?" Lukas asked.

"Until they come and get us." Alfred muttered. "And take us to the Outside. Anyone got a plan?"

"No." Dmitri responded. Something struck Emil then. He was sure his brother had been sorted into an Acumen with a high percentage… did that mean they had sentenced him to be an Ignoramus because he disrupted the test? Guilt clutched his heart and stomach, making him close his eyes. It was his fault his brother was here right now. Lukas sensed something was wrong and placed a hand on Emil's shoulder, squeezing it gently.

"Don't worry about it right now." He mumbled quietly, knowing his brother far too well to tell what he was thinking about.

"Do we pray that there's forest or some sort of life outside?" Alfred asked, leaning against a wall.

"Will you shut up about it?" Natalya snapped. She was attempting to act calm but the hysteria showed in her eyes.

"Why? We're going to face something outside the fence that we've never been to before, without a plan or anything that might help us!"  
"I said shut up." Natalya hissed. Alfred's eyes narrowed and he was about to bark something back when;

"Five minutes." Alfred and Natalya fell silent. The only noise that could be heard was the beeping of the digital clock and the soothing noises Feliciano was making to calm Raivis. The last five minutes was the longest Lukas had ever experienced in his life. Maxim seemed to find it difficult to sit still, continuously tapping his fingers against his leg. Natalya continued to play with the seams of her dress and Dmitri chewed the nail of his right index finger nervously. Feliciano began running his gentle fingers through Raivis's thick curls, and Raivis himself had seemed to calm down enough to just stare distractedly at the clock. Alfred kept cracking his knuckles and adjusting his glasses. Lukas stood just outside the room, watching the dust particles shoot through the rectangle of light like small stars. Emil had sat himself on the floor, his knees drawn up his chest like the vulnerable child he was.

Then, after what seemed like an aeon, the clock struck the hour, setting off a series of beeping noises.

Every single person in the room looked up with a pained expression, before turning their heads as the sound of the heavy door being unlocked rang through the air. Maxim stood first, followed by Dmitri and Feliciano, who placed a hand protectively on Raivis's shoulder. Alfred pushed off from the wall and Emil uncurled himself and went to stand by his brother. Natalya was the last to stand, and did so as half a dozen guards marched down the corridor and into the room, each one grabbing one or two of the Ignoramus. Lukas growled and tried to move away from the guard but he the grip he had was strong and forceful.

"Get off of me!" He heard Alfred yelp.

"Emil!" Lukas gasped, but was shoved along by the guard. They marched them down a series of corridors to another door. A guard unlocked it and then outside light flooded into the corridor, momentarily blinding them all. A meter away the back of a truck was open, seats crudely placed inside it.

"We're humans, not cattle!" Maxim snarled, before his guard pushed him into the back of the vehicle. The others did the same until the eight of them were inside the truck and the back of it closed. The back of the truck became too dark to see, which only made the others panic even more.

"What the hell?!" Lukas heard Alfred's voice, before there was a loud clanging followed by a curse.

"Everyone try to stay calm," Natalya said. "The truck's going to move in a minute, so it's best if we sit."

Lukas sought out Emil's hand in the darkness, then sat on the floor. God, he was scared. The most scared he had ever been in his life. He couldn't believe he was being treated like this; like they were animals instead of humans. Was that how they treated every Ignoramus?

As Natalya had predicted, the truck began moving, roughly jerking them all forward. For at least an hour, they sat in the darkness, huddled together, terrified of the unknown. None of them spoke, yet they couldn't even if they wanted to since the roar of the truck engine was so loud. A few times the truck rolled to a stop, but every time it was started again. At the fifth stop, there was the sound of close voices and rustling, before an awfully loud screeching noise made them all cover their ears. When it had stopped, Lukas made out the figure of Alfred go to stand up.

"Was that the fence gate?" Suddenly the truck started again, causing Alfred to fall over. The terrain was different now, a lot bumpier and uneven. After a few minutes, the truck stopped again and the sound of the doors opening made Lukas shift and look around. A moment later the back of the truck was re-opened and the light flooded in.

While the abrupt light distracted them, the guards rushed forward and grabbed the Ignoramus, dragging them out the truck and throwing them to the floor, closing up the back of the vehicle again and getting back in it. Lukas recovered first and sat up, raising a hand that he noticed was covered in small grains from where it had been on the floor. The truck roared to life, and before he could shout out a startled "Wait!" the truck swerved around and took off, kicking up dust and debris, making them all cough.

When the particles settled, Lukas shielded his eyes and shakily rose to his feet. When his eyes adjusted, his hand dropped numbly to his side when he saw the terrain- the Outside. Here he was, finally seeing what it was really like, and oh God he wished he wasn't. He wished he was anywhere else but here. He wished he could still be at home, wondering what the Outside was like and laughing at himself because he'd never ever see it… The others rose to their feet and looked around.

"Oh God…" Feliciano whispered, tears springing to his eyes. "We're going to die."

In every direction, sand was the only thing that could be seen.

The men at the bar were wrong. The teachers and sober adults were right.

It was a desert.

* * *

 **A/N:** DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!

Sorry for the cliff hanger end of the chapter! It builds the suspense, no? Oh, just for your reference Maxim is deer sweet Luxembourg and Dmitri is Bulgaria. I spent ages picking who would be in the Ignoramus since there are nations who I've given specific roles to etc. and believe it or not there aren't _that_ many personifications ahaha... ahaha... ha...

Oh, for that one person who said to me "I thought this was a DenNor fic...?" Trust me, it will be. Just give it a liiiiiil' bit of time~! I have the whole plot figured out.

Thank you yet again to everyone who reviewed! Glad you guys like it!

See ya in the next chapter!


	5. THe Ignoraimless

**the ignoraimless**

* * *

Alfred turned a whole 360 degrees, scanning the surrounding area.

The searing sun reflecting off his glasses made the task harder than it should have been, but he managed the full turn then cursed loudly.

"It's nothing but wasteland!" He shouted to the others at the bottom of the sand dune. "It's just a massive desert!"

Below him, Feliciano and Dmitri had collapsed on the sand, panting heavily. Natalya had her arms crossed; grains caught in her hair and clothes. Maxim was in a crouched position, one hand rested on the hot land to support himself. Raivis was rubbing his forehead, desperately trying to get rid of the beads of sweat that had formed there.

"We won't last much longer…" Lukas grumbled, running a hand through his hair and loosening the collar of his shirt. Emil, who didn't deal well with a lot of light or heat, had his jacket covering his head and shoulders in a weak attempt to block out the sun. Maxim stood up and brushed the sand from his hands, before looking around. They had picked a random direction and continued in it, desperately hoping that they would find _something_. The truck had driven them far enough that they couldn't see the City or the fence walls anymore, so they were really in the middle of nowhere.

"This is pointless." Dmitri said. "There's nothing here. What was that they told us in school? That the City was built in what they used to call Central Europe. It's just too big."

"Don't s-say that!" Raivis said, a hint of panic in his voice as he reached up to tangle his fingers in his hair.

"It's the-"

"Guys, shut up a sec." Alfred interrupted them, his eyes narrowed in concentration. The others frowned and looked up at him.

"Alfred?" Maxim asked, flicking his fringe out of his face in a graceful jerk of his head. "You alright up the-"

Suddenly, Alfred let out a startled gasp and stepped back in surprise, before turning and sliding down the sandy hill as fast as he could manage.

"Alfred, what is it?" Maxim asked, a little more frantically as he watched the blond practically tumble down the hill.

"There's something moving out there!" He gasped once he reached the bottom and looked around again.

"Are you sure it wasn't just the light? Or from the lack of water?" Feliciano asked, shifting to sit up.

"Feli, I'm pretty sure there was someone out there! I don't care what you guys say about no water- I definitely saw something!" Maxim rolled his eye and was about to say something when the unmistakable sound of the sand scattering made them freeze. Lukas instinctively pushed Emil behind him, his head whipping left and right as Feliciano and Dmitri jumped to their feet.

"What was that?!" Natalya hissed, stooping slightly and bending her arms, hands closed in fists. They all backed up so that the elder Ignoramus formed a tight circle around Emil and Raivis, each facing outwards.

"Maybe it was the wind." Dmitri whispered.

"There is no wind!" Alfred bit back, taking off his glasses and rubbing them on his shirt before replacing them.

"Then maybe it's an animal?" Dmitri asked.

"What sort of animal can survive in a freaking _desert_?"

"Shh!" Natalya hushed, tilting her head slightly. She thought she had just heard the ever-so-quiet sound of voices. Lukas, who had heard them too, frowned and stepped forward a little to see if he could find the source of the quiet noise.

Then all of the sudden, a voice shouted;

"CLEAR!"

And a net came hurtling over the top of the sand dunes in front of Maxim. The Ignoramus barely had time to react before the net fell on top of them, effectively trapping them beneath it. Lukas gasped and attempted to push up, only to find the net was weighed down by little blocks, making it impossible to stand. They all began to panic, blindly thrashing around like fish caught in a sailor's net, only stopping when the sun was abruptly blocked out.

Lukas winced and looked up through the rungs to see not just one but six figures standing around the net, watching the terrified faces of those trapped. The figures were covered in a knee-length sandy coloured coat with a hood, various pockets attached to it. A belt was looped round the waist of it containing an assortment of items from vials to bags to shreds of material. A thick pair of goggles with the lenses tinted black covered their eyes and a light scarf was wound round their necks and over their faces, a pair of torn and dirtied trousers beneath the length of the coat and finally a pair of sturdy shin-length boots with the laces tied tightly.

For a while the Ignoramus observed their captors and the captors observed the Ignoramus, before one of the captors spoke.

"What do we do with them now?" It was an understandable language which identified them as at least human, though the accent was different; it was lazier then the strict Acumen dialect and some of the letters were slightly rolled on the tip of the tongue.

"We take 'em back." One of the others said. "That's about it."  
"Yeah, but the question is whether they're going to like, struggle or not."

"Only one way to find out." A captor crouched down by Lukas. From the closer position, the boy could make out the distinct shape of eyes behind the goggles, though the colour couldn't be defined. Slowly, the captor reached down and tugged up a bit of the net before grabbing Lukas and pulling him out, holding both arms almost painfully behind his back. Lukas growled and squirmed in the others tight grasp, which only got firmer.

"This one's cute." The captor commented. "Pretty feisty, but cute." For a split second the captor loosened his grip. That second was all Lukas needed, as he immediately pulled free, whipped round, pulled back his fist and punched the captor square in what he hoped was his jaw. The captor let out a startled cry and fell back, the hood falling from his head as he hit the sand with a thump. A shock of unruly blond hair sprung up, free from its material prison. The other captors watched as the blond captor let out a groan and got back on his feet, pulling the scarf down to rub his jaw.

"Ow! What was that for?!" He asked angrily, a red mark forming on the skin below his lips. He paused when he saw Lukas, who was shaking his hand and rubbing his knuckles, having hurt himself too. The captor seemed to frown, pulled up the scarf and the hood and then roughly grabbed Lukas again, this time making sure he had a secure grip on both of Lukas's arms.

The captor and Lukas looked round as the unmistakable sound of laughter came from one of the other captors.

""Pretty feisty, but cute"!" He snorted. "Damn Køhler, he almost took your nose off!"

"Shut up." 'Køhler' barked. "Grab the others and let's go!"

The captor held up his hands in mock surrender before he nodded to the others who positioned themselves around the net. On a count of three they hoisted the net up and each of the captors grabbed an Ignoramus.

"Väinämöinen!" Køhler said. "Can you grab the net?"

Väinämöinen, who had Raivis, looked to the smaller boy.

"Um… could… could you stay still for a minute while I pack up the net? Is that ok? Thanks." With that, he let go of Raivis and unhooked the net from the heavy blocks and folded it up, tucking it in one of his coat pockets. Raivis was too terrified to even move an inch until Väinämöinen took hold of him again.

Køhler held Lukas's arms with both hands before he reached into his belt and, from one of the bags, produced a little object that Lukas had never seen before. It had a red needle that spun around as well as the letters 'N', 'E', 'S' and 'W' on it. Køhler tilted the object until the needle pointed at the 'N' and then began walking, pulling Lukas along with him.

Lukas managed to look back at Emil, who was staring at him with tear-filled eyes.

"It'll be ok." Lukas said to him. "We'll be fine."

Køhler glanced at Lukas then back at Emil, a small frown creasing his forehead.

"Is that your brother or something?" He asked Lukas. The boy ignored him, only giving Køhler a sideways and extremely cold glare.

"Wow, I can feel that glare from over here!" One of the others said behind them. "You're going to have great fun with him, Køhler!" Lukas's eyes widened.

"… You realise how creepy that sounded, Yong-Soo?" Køhler mumbled.

"Ok, that did sound creepy. Sorry about that, kid! I must've frightened you. My bad."

"Guys, wait up a second." The captors paused and looked back at the one in front of Väinämöinen, who had Maxim in their grasp. The captor was looking up at the sky, then looked down at the floor.

"What's wrong?" Køhler asked, stopping immediately. The other captor lifted a shoe and kicked a few grains of sand.

"… We need to set up shelter. Now." The other captors nodded immediately and let go of the ones they had a hold of. Alfred seemed to regain his voice and looked at them in confusion.

"What's happening?"

"There's a storm coming!" Yong-Soo responded, fishing in his pockets and unlooping the scraps of material from his belt. Maxim looked up at the sky.

"A _storm_? But there's nothing-"

"Trust me!" Yong-Soo said. "Also, I'd advise none of you to go off, 'cause we really won't find you then and you'll die." Emil gulped.

The captors worked together, producing seemingly random pieces from out of their pockets and belts and then putting them together. Within about ten minutes a low tent had been built, the colour of the sand, with a small opening to the side of it.

"C'mon, go in." Køhler gestured to the Ignoramus, peering at the sky which had darkened considerably. Lukas was surprised at the sudden weather change, but complied and wriggled inside the tent, followed by Emil then the rest. The captors followed them inside, Køhler staying until the very end to secure a flap tightly over the opening and sitting back on his knees. The tent wasn't big enough to stand in but there was at least enough room for all of them.

There was silence for a few moments, before Køhler nodded and turned around.

"'Kay boys. This is going to be a long night." With that, he removed his hood, then his coat completely, revealing a plain shirt underneath. He moved around then laid his jacket out on the bottom of the tent. The Ignoramus watched, fascinated, as the others did the same. Køhler then took off his scarf and, finally, his goggles, placing them on his head. Deep blue, slightly drooping eyes were revealed, circled by a ring of clean skin where the goggles were. The rest of his face was stained by the sand, leaving it dirty and grubby. A bruise was beginning to form where Lukas had- quite unnecessarily- punched him earlier. He smiled goofily at them.

"Hi." He began. "I'm sorry about that abrupt catching and all that crap but it was necessary to keep moving and not be bombarded with loads of questions. I don't want you guys to worry, we're not going to rob you or anything, we're here to take you back to the settlement."  
"Settlement?" Maxim asked immediately.

"Yep." Køhler responded. "Back when the IQ test first started, the Ignoramus that were chucked out banded together and out of what little resources they found in the wasteland they made a settlement for the Ignoramus that got dumped out in the desert." Lukas blinked.

"Wait… what?" Køhler laughed.

"More will be explained tomorrow when we get there. Anyway, it's our-" he gestured to the others, who had taken off their coats, scarves and goggles too. "- job to go fetch the ones who get dumped in the desert. We're called…" he paused dramatically. "The 'Ignoraimless'!"

Alfred snorted.

"The 'Ignoraimless'? Seriously? Who came up with that?"

"He did." One of the other Ignoraimless said, pointing at Køhler, who pouted.

"Hey! It sounds cool and it's a good play on words!"

"Not really."  
"Anyway!" He interrupted, crossing his arms like an overgrown child. "I'll introduce us. My names Matthias. Matthias Køhler. I'm the team leader." He saluted them. "On with the show. The one over there with the strawberry blond hair and weird eyes is our navigator, Vladimir Popescu. He's ok, but watch it. He bites." Vladimir stuck his tongue out at Matthias.

"He's lying. I'm friendly."

"That one over there with the short hair and motherly look is Tino Väinämöinen. I say "motherly look" 'cause he's basically like our mum. He's our medic." Matthias nodded at Raivis's captor. Tino smiled warmly at them all.

"Next, the sassy one with the choppy haircut and bright green eyes is Feliks Łukasiewicz. He's our weather expert and completer." Feliks laughed when he saw the Ignoramus's faces.

"Yes, I know I look like a girl."

"How the hell do you say your last name?" Alfred asked, his jaw slightly dropped. Feliks rolled his eyes.

"Repeat after me; _Wook-a-shye-veech_."

"Wooka-shri-vik?"

"Keep practising that."

"The one next to him with the brown hair and thick eyebrows is Li Xiao Chun, but just call him Leon. He's our specialist." Leon raised said thick eyebrow at Matthias, then looked at the others with an expression similar to Lukas's- blank and mysterious.

"Specialist in what?" Maxim asked.

"Ah, well, he's a specialist in materials. Y'see the tent? His idea, his design. If we need anything to help us battle sudden storms like this, he's the one we go to. Oh! Last but not least, the one next to Leon- also happens to be his brother- is Im Yong-Soo, but just call him Im Yong. He's our shaper. Be wary of him- he's dangerous and argumentative." Im Yong let out a disbelieving laugh.

"I swear I'm fine! If anything I'm a less argumentative person then Matt!" Matthias grinned then shifted to look at the Ignoramus.

"Now that we've introduced ourselves, what's your names?"

"Alfred F. Jones!"  
"Maxim Maes."

"Dmitri Hinov…"

"R-Raivis Galante."

"Feliciano Vargas."

"Natalya Arlovskaya."

"Emil Steilsson."

"…"

"And you?" Matthias asked, staring at Lukas with curious eyes.

"… Lukas. Lukas Bondevik." He said stiffly. Matthias smiled.

"Well, Lukas and company, welcome to the Outside!"

 **XoXoX**

Within in an hour, the sandstorm was rattling the tent so badly the Ignoramus were afraid it would get ripped out of the ground. The Ignoraimless however seemed to ignore it, obviously having spent some time in the same position before. The roar of the wind and the scattering of the sand made talking virtually impossible, so to pass away the time Vladimir, Matthias, Im Yong, Alfred, Feliciano and Raivis began playing some silent games, mostly involving their hands or a random stone.

Natalya, Dmitri, Feliks and Leon watched them with relatively bored expressions and Maxim had fallen asleep, curled up in a corner on one of the Ignoraimless's jackets. Lukas sat by one of the walls of the tent, his back and head rested against the strong material, Emil's head on his lap. He stroked his fingers through his thin locks as his younger brother slept, staring at the opposite side of the tent, lost deep in thought.

What was happening back in the City now? Were his parents coping? Not that he should care but… he sighed and thought of his old possessions back at home. His nice warm bed. That puffin that Emil carried around. That Brain Teaser. His school. His teachers. Mr Carriedo. All gone. He supposed he should be grateful that these unknown Ignoramus settlers and their retrieval team- stupidly named the Ignoraimless- had found them, but he couldn't help but think maybe it would have been better if they'd died in the desert. He wouldn't have to worry about what was going to happen next or whether he could keep his brother alive, or have to experience the awful feelings of homesickness that were beginning to set in.

Then again, what did Matthias mean by this "Ignoramus settlement"? Had a bunch of Ignoramus really been able to survive, secret and unknown, alongside the "perfect" Acumen society? Was it really possible? Or was this some sort of dream? He wondered how the Government hadn't found out about this settlement. He highly doubted it would be there if they had found out about it- they'd already made it perfectly clear only those that were dubbed perfect were allowed in the City. The fact that the Ignoraimless wore clothes that camouflaged them in the sands stressed this point further. At least they were smart enough to do that.

A sudden aching in his temple made him wince and close his eyes. All these thoughts made his head hurt and the dehydration didn't help. Perhaps it was best to just forget about it for the minute…

He jumped when he felt someone poke his cheek, opening his eyes and staring in annoyance at who it was. It was Matthias, wearing a soft expression and holding a carton of something out to him, unable to convey what it was over the roar of the wind. Lukas hesitantly took it and brought it to his lips. He sighed with a new-found relief when the cold and sweet taste of water flooded his mouth, wetting his parched lips. He took a few gulps before shaking Emil's shoulder gently, offering some to Emil when he looked up at him groggily. Lukas looked back at Matthias when the blond boy held something else out to him. He stared at it in confusion.

In his palm were a few small, round, green objects. Matthias gestured for him to take some, which he hesitantly did and bit into one. A uniquely bitter flavour ran along his tongue, making him wet his lips. It wasn't a bad taste but the sudden rumbling of his stomach made him eat a couple more. Matthias offered some to Emil too, before going back to his games with the others.

At least they were hospitable, Lukas thought.

 **XoXoX**

Eight hours later, the storm had passed completely.

During that time not much had happened as they could not speak due to the unnaturally loud sound. However, when Lukas had woken up from his nap, the first thing he had noticed was the lack of sound. He opened his eyes wearily, sitting up straighter from the cramped position he had been in. Emil was already awake like the others, who were watching Matthias and Vladimir wind their scarves around their neck and fix their goggles to their faces.

"Ah, Lukas, you're awake!" Matthias said cheerfully, making Lukas scowl a little. "Ok, so the storm has calmed down. There's most likely a large build-up of sand outside the tent, so Vlad's coming with. You lot stay here and keep out of trouble while we assess the damage. Make sure the flaps shut as soon as we go." He added to Im Yong, who promptly nodded. With that, Matthias and Vladimir pulled up their hoods and positioned themselves by the flap.

"Ready?" Matthias asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Vladimir responded sarcastically, then opened the flap. Almost immediately sand began rushing in, but Matthias abruptly crawled through the it with Vladimir close behind him. Im Yong and Leon grabbed the flap and forced it back onto a hook to keep the sand out, then sat back on their heels.

"I hate sand." Im Yong said dryly.

"Well, there's like, not much else." Feliks responded, stretching out and laying on his jacket, closing his eyes. "We're stuck here until they come back." Silence fell on the tent as the Ignoraimless shifted around to get comfortable again. Surprisingly, Dmitri was the first to speak up.

"Have you guys ever been inside the City?" Feliks's eyes opened and he turned to look at him, the same with Im Yong, Leon and Tino.

"The City?" Tino asked thoughtfully. Dmitri nodded.

"Myself, Leon and Im Yong have." Feliks said. "Leon and Im Yong's brothers are actually elders in the Government." Alfred's eyes widened.

"No way! Really?" Im Yong nodded.

"Yep. I got kicked out first time I took the test. I panicked and scored something like… forty percent."  
"Same for me." Leon added, speaking for the first time. "Except I got like, sixty-eight percent." Natalya frowned.

"That must be annoying." Leon just shrugged.

"Vladimir, Matthias and I have grown up in the Ignoramus settlement. We've heard stories about the City but that's about it. It sounds like a horrible place."  
"It was alright…" Maxim said quietly. "Until we found out what really happened to the Ignoramus."

"What did you think happened?"  
"Well… we thought they maybe did the jobs no one wanted to do." Feliks shook his head.

"No, they instead strip them of their humanity and stick them in the middle of the desert to go and die. They have no place for dumb people in their society."

"Be a little gentler, Feliks." Tino chided. "They've just had everything taken away from them. Think how it must feel."

"I _know_ how it feels." Feliks grumbled, turning over. Im Yong waved a hand.

"Don't worry about Feliks, guys. He still hasn't quite got over his rejection from the Acumen society. He'll warm up to you."

Half an hour later a thumping on the material of the flap made Im Yong lean forward and open the it, welcoming back inside Matthias and Vladimir. They both had sand coating their clothes and faces, which could be seen when Matthias lifted his goggles and pulled down his scarf.

"Ok!" He announced. "We've cleared most of the sand away from the entrance but the tents almost completely buried. We'll have to come back and get it later." Im Yong groaned. "Anyway, the damage isn't too bad and the compass still works so we'll get there within an hour." The Ignoraimless nodded and reached for their clothes, putting on their scarves, goggles and coats, masking any identifiable feature.

"Ready guys?" Matthias asked the Ignoramus, who nodded uncertainly. "Right. Let's go." With that, they all clambered out of the tent.

 **XoXoX**

"Lack of pigments?" Matthias asked dubiously.

"Yeah." Emil said, a little shyly. "It's an- uhm- a form of albinism."

"Sounds bad…" the elder said. Matthias and Lukas's younger brother were walking side by side on their way to this "Ignoramus settlement" that they all kept going on about. Emil seemed to have warmed to the blond male, much to Lukas's dismay, when Matthias had asked him why he had purple eyes. Lukas followed slightly behind them, listening in, and frowning at the floor. Emil scowled.

"It's not _that_ bad..."

"It sounds painful." Matthias quipped. "And it makes you seem delicate."

"I'm not delicate!" Emil huffed. "It's just a lack of pigment that means with people who have blue eyes the less blue pigment makes the red of the blood show through! It makes my eyes violet, hair appear white and skin to be pale!"

"Are you sure it's not a ruse? You might be some sort of... what did they used to call it... 'alien' or a secret experiment or-"

"That's enough." Lukas cut him off. Emil was trying his best to look calm but his eyes showed a slight hint of panic. "Don't listen to that idiot, Emil. He's teasing you."

"I'm not an idiot!" Matthias said with a pout, making Lukas roll his eyes.

"How much further is it?" Alfred whined, panting heavily.

"Not much!" Vladimir said happily, tilting the weird object that Matthias had been using earlier.

"What _is_ that?" Dmitri asked. Vladimir glanced up at him.

"This? It's a compass. It points north, south, east and west. Helps guide us home."

"Can I see it?" Feliciano asked, intrigued. Vladimir handed it over and Feliciano inspected it.

"Oh! It moves!"

"Yep. The needle moves around to the north. That's where we're heading." Feliciano handed it back.

Vladimir paused when he saw it and looked around.

"Wait, I think we're here." The others stopped, the Ignoramus looking around.

"Um… there's nothing here." Natalya said, confused. The Ignoraimless laughed.

"You seriously think it would be on the surface with all the storms?" Im Yong said, before walking over to a small dune and dropping to his knees, digging through the sand until he found a trapdoor. Matthias and Feliks walked over, helping him tug it up. The Ignoramus peered down, only seeing black.

"Uh…" Maxim said unsurely. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"Of course!" Vladimir said enthusiastically, before reaching into the hole and grabbing the top of what appeared to be a ladder. "See you on the other side!" He said, before stepping completely into the hole, putting both hands and feet on either side of the ladder and then sliding down it with a loud whoop, disappearing into the darkness. The Ignoramus looked at each other before Alfred stepped forward and went down into the hole. Natalya followed him, then Im Yong, Dmitri, Leon, Raivis, Feliciano, Tino, Maxim, Feliks and Emil, until it was just Lukas and Matthias standing at the top.

"Are you going to go or…?" Matthias asked.

"How do we know whether to trust you or not?" Lukas asked unexpectedly. "You might just be a bunch of cannibals or-or scavengers that'll strip us of our clothes." Matthias shrugged.

"We _are_ scavengers. But I promise you that we won't take your clothes. Or eat you."

"But why bother?" Lukas pressed. Matthias sighed.

"Because unlike the Acumen, us Ignoramus have a heart."

Lukas stared at him a while longer before reluctantly reaching down and grabbing the top of the ladder and lowering himself, climbing down the ladder. Matthias followed, pulling the trap door shut with a loud creak and shrouding the tunnel in darkness.

* * *

 **A/N:** See? The storyline's beginning to fall into place, yes? Sorry about the name "Ignoraimless", I just thought it was a name Denmark would come up with. Someone was confused with the names, so I will list them here;

 **Ignoramus**

Lukas Bondevik: Norway

Emil Steilsson: Iceland

Maxim Maes: Luxembourg

Dmitri Hinov: Bulgaria

Natalya Arlovskaya: Belarus

Raivis Galante: Latvia

Alfred F. Jones: USA

 **Ignoraimless**

Matthias Køhler: Denmark

Feliks Łukasiewicz: Poland

Tino Väinämöinen: Finland

Vladimir Popescu: Romania

Im Yong Soo: South Korea

Li Xiao Chun (Leon): Hong Kong

Anyway, more about the mysterious Ignoramus settlement in the next chapter...

Also, this chapter has been updated as a friend of mine found a better (and realistic) reason as to why Emil's eyes are purple. Thank you to Oi Opakio :3

See ya later~!

* * *

 **Definitions**

 **Albinism:** it is a genetic condition characterized by a too small production in melanin and by the partial or complete absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes, making them appear very pale or white.


	6. The Complex

**the complex**

* * *

The tunnel went on for longer than Lukas had expected.

It was a good ten minutes before he saw the faint glow of lights at what appeared to be the bottom of the ladder. The only sounds that could be heard were Lukas's and Matthias's feet on the rungs, leading them down deeper and deeper into the Earth.

When Lukas's feet finally hit the bottom, he immediately turned to look down the dimly lit corridor, with small candles burning along the walls. The others seemed to have disappeared through the door at the end of said corridor, and now that Lukas could focus properly he heard the faint sound of voices.

"Candles?" He asked dubiously when Matthias reached the bottom and pulled down his hood, goggles and scarf.

"Yeah." Matthias replied. "Electricity's hard to generate, especially in an isolated underground place like this, so we have to use it sparingly. But apparently some of our specialists have found ways to steal it from those snobby Acumen, so we won't have to worry 'bout that soon enough."

"Not all the Acumen are snobby." Lukas said immediately in his monotonous voice. Matthias was right, a good majority of the Acumen were snobby and too wrapped up in their own selfish world to worry about anyone else, but then there were the few who Lukas liked to think did care. For example, his old teacher, Mr Carriedo and his… parents. Matthias raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"That so? Well, I've heard enough stories to believe that the snobs outweigh the modest."

"You've only heard stories. You've never been to the City." Lukas snapped. The other, who had been about to walk down the next corridor, paused to look back at him.

"Who told you that?"

"Feliks."

Matthias hummed, wetting his lips. "He's right. I've never seen the City, but I've spent my whole life listening to Ignoramus telling stories about that place. It sounds so… controlling. Like you're not allowed to do or say or even _think_ anything you're not supposed to."

"You're wrong." Lukas said, his voice even, his face betraying no emotion. Matthias opened his mouth to argue, before closing it. There was no point arguing with him at this stage. The Ignoramus had been brought up with that mind set so of course he wouldn't see anything wrong…

Instead he shrugged. "Suit yourself. You'll see eventually."  
"I'm sure I will." Lukas replied coldly, making Matthias's lip quirk.

"Come on, they'll be wondering where we are." With that he began walking and opened the door for Lukas, who thanked him and strode through it, a gasp escaping his lips when he saw what was on the other side.

Matthias lingered by the door a few seconds longer. Lukas was definitely an interesting- and not to mention, rebellious- character indeed. He wasn't like any Ignoramus he'd come across or Acumen he'd heard of. He really did admire his spirit.

As he had said at the start; cute, but feisty.

 **XoXoX**

The Ignoramus settlement was not what Lukas, or anyone for that matter, had expected at all.

As soon as the door had opened and Lukas had stepped through, his breath caught in his throat. The Ignoramus settlement was underground, built in a humungous cavern. He was standing on some sort of stone platform a few meters wide that circled the entirety of the cavern, and below that platform was another stone walkway and below that another, bridges criss-crossing over them as a means of getting from one point to another. More candles lined the walls, illuminating the place but not very well. Other rooms seemed to have been dug into the wall- which seemed as firm as cement- which Lukas guessed provided housing accommodations. People were dotted around, some walking to other rooms, others climbing down the ladders that attached to walk ways together… It was too much to take in all at once.

"What do you think?" Matthias's voice made him start and glare at the other male, who had just stepped beside him. He seemed unfazed by the others cold aura and glare. "I know it's not much, but it's development from nothing, right?"

"It's… big." Lukas commented, making Matthias laugh.  
"Yeah it's big. Not as fancy as the City but it's decent enough."

Lukas looked around it once more, before he frowned. "Where are the others?"

"Oh yeah! Forgot about them. Whoops. This way." He gestured his head to the right and then began walking again, Lukas cautiously following him. He led him down the walkway, passing a few doorways (which Lukas could now confirm as housing accommodations) before stopping at one. "Here we are!" He said cheerfully and without a second's hesitation marched inside. Lukas chewed the inside of his cheek, before he too walked through the door. When he got inside, he noticed everyone was seated on the floor, looking up at quite a petite girl who was standing on a small stall and pointing at a chalk board.

"Ah, Mr Køhler. How nice of you to join us." She said dryly, adjusting her glasses.

"Sorry, Emma," Matthias said sheepishly. "This is Lukas."

"Hello, Lukas." Emma said politely. "I was just explaining how the Complex works. If you would like to take a seat, I'll carry on." Lukas did as he was asked and sat down next to his brother, who gave him a thin smile.

"Now," Emma continued like she had said the words a thousand times before. "For the benefit of Lukas, I will repeat what I've said. Hello everyone, my name is Emma and I welcome you to the Complex. The Complex is an underground system that was set up a few years after the IQ test was imposed by the Køhler's, who have subsequently run this place ever since. That means the dork sitting over there will run the Complex one day." She nodded at Matthias, who scowled. Lukas raised an eyebrow. So Matthias's ancestors were the ones who built the Complex? Interesting…

"The Complex was set up as a safe haven for those who were cast out from the City as Ignoramus. It's a shelter from the winds and the terrible storms that make their way over the land that fell to desertification a long time ago. Resources were found from what remained of human civilisation before the End, but as you can see we are not as developed as the Acumen society.

"While you are here, you are expected to contribute as repayment for the shelter and food you are provided with. It will be a significant change to what you are used to, but give it some time and you'll be fine. There are a variety of jobs here, such as harvesters, builders, scientists, materialists, farmers and many others. Maybe you'll even get chosen to work with Mr Køhler's father in the Ignoramus Government to help this society, or even work with young Mr Køhler himself as an Ignoraimless that have kindly been set up to venture into the desert to collect those thrown out of the Acumen society." Emma paused, taking a deep breath and looking everyone in the eyes.

"Beforehand, though, you will be put in front of Mr Køhler's father to be judged. Judgement is nothing scary, I promise you, it's just to see where you should be placed for a job. If any requests are made for you by the others here it will be taken into consideration. We won't kick you out- unless you're a spy or something of course- so please, do not panic and make yourself comfortable. We will take care of you while you're here." With that, Emma finished her speech and folded her hands in front of her lap.

"Any questions?" There was a pause, before Alfred raised a hand.

"What kind of food do you have here?" Emma and all the Ignoraimless blinked at him.

"Food?" She repeated unsurely. "Um… well… there's not much meat but a fair amount of beef… and there are some vegetables such as cress, corn, grapes, wheat and beans…" Alfred considered it, then nodded.

"A'ight. Seems ok."

Emma stared at him some more, obviously not used to being asked a question like that, before she cleared her throat. "Um… any other questions?"

Surprisingly, Natalya raised her hand. "I was just wondering… Did… did you happen to take in anyone named Katyusha?" Emma frowned slightly, before a small smile formed on her lips.

"You must be Natalya."

From someone as stoic and seemingly strong willed as Natalya, the last thing Lukas expected when he looked at her was to see tears forming in the female's eyes. Whoever this Katyusha was, they were obviously important. Emma adjusted her glasses once more, before addressing the Ignoraimless.

"Any more? No? Good. Ok, boys, you know the drill. I want two of you with me for the tour." There were a few groans, but the first hand to go up was… Matthias. Lukas's eyes narrowed. Did he really have to put up with him a while longer?

"I'll join you!" Matthias said enthusiastically.

Emma shrugged. "Ok then. Matthias is one. If none of you volunteer, I'll pick myself." No other hands went up, so the blonde crossed her arms. "Mr Łukasiewicz, let's go." Feliks looked up, his green eyes slanted in annoyance.  
"I have to-"

"No excuses!" Emma said sharply. "We all know that this is good for you."  
"I don't want to go!" Feliks growled. The other girl opened her mouth to say something back, when someone else called out.

"If Feliks is like, too scared to go I'll join you." Emma looked over at Leon, who calmly sat there, staring at her with a blank expression.

"I'm not scared!" Feliks retorted. "I-I… I'm just too…"  
"Shy." Im Yong said with a laugh. "Oh, the reason Feliks is snappy is because he's too shy to talk properly. He either gets snappy-shy, or quiet-shy, so he's not as mean as he sounds." Maxim let out a small "ah" and Feliciano smiled in understanding. His brother was, after all, quite similar.

"Are we excused?" Vladimir asked. "I mean… Tino and I have gotta go do some chores." Emma nodded.

"Yes, you're excused. Matthias, Leon, new Ignoramus, let's start the tour, shall we?"

 **XoXoX**

"No, no, look it's like this..." Leon reached over, as if to grab Emil's ear, then pulled it back suddenly, producing a piece of material in between his fingertips. Emil stared at it with his jaw dropped.

"H-how did you do that?!" He exclaimed, grabbing the material and examining it like he'd never seen such a thing.

"Magic." Leon replied, the slightest hint of a smile in his voice. They were walking along one of the pathways lining the walls of the cavern and already Lukas felt himself warming to the place. Every person they passed greeted them with a cheerfulness resembling Matthias's. Now that he thought about it, Vladimir and Tino seemed quite kind and cheerful people too. Were people who had grown up in the Complex just naturally cheerful people? Lukas wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. Well, there were probably other people down here with an attitude similar to… say Feliks's, if he needed to refill his pessimism.

Emma, who was walking at the front, had already shown them to three or four rooms with names that Lukas hadn't bothered to remember. She'd also introduced them to a few people; a girl with long brown hair pulled into two bunches by ribbons who welcomed them, a duo of a boy with messy hair and a girl with her hair in a bun… Lukas soon noticed the correlation. The only defining feature seemed to be the people's hair and eyes. Apart from that, they all dressed virtually the same and had roughly the same sort of personality…

"Here's the kitchens." Emma said, pointing to another doorway. "I wouldn't suggest going in there just yet. We haven't had a decent cook since our last one passed away and our current one… well… he's a little too reckless…"

Just then, a man appeared at the doorway, with dark brown hair- two defying strands jutting out- pale green eyes and a bandage plastered over the bridge of his nose.

"Eh? What was that, Emma?" He asked, a playful tone in his voice.

"I was just telling everyone what a terrible cook you are." Emma deadpanned, staring up at the significantly taller man without the slightest hint of fear or worry. The man shrugged.

"Yeah I know I'm bad, but at least I try… Don't s'pose any of you new guys know how to cook?" There was a moments silence before Feliciano tentatively raised a hand.

"I do. I could help if you needed it!" The man blinked, almost like he couldn't believe his eyes.

"You _can_? Great! Emma, got a request for that kid in the kitchen!" Emma nodded.

"Noted. Oh, this is Jett." She told the confused looking Ignoramus.

"Nice to meet'cha." He greeted them with a grin.

"We were about to go down to the pens to see Kaelin." Emma interrupted. "Any messages you need to give him?"

Jett shrugged. "Not really. Oh, wait, yeah. Make sure he washes his hands after handling those animals! He got really sick a while back, remember?"

"Of course." With that they bid Jett goodbye and began going deeper underground. It was then that Lukas noticed Matthias was being unusually quiet, so as everyone else was chattering to each other he looked at the other.

He jumped when he saw Matthias was already looking at him.

"Why are you staring at me?" Lukas asked, immediately defensive. Matthias's clouded eyes brightened up immediately and he jerked, like he had just been woken up.

"Sorry I was thinking. I tend to stare when I'm thinking." Matthias apologised, looking around. "Uh… so do you like the place so far?"

"It's quite disorganised still," Lukas commented. "However it does seem like a nice place."

"It is!" Matthias agreed, his enthusiasm reminding the other of a puppy dog. Lukas went to respond, when Emma suddenly stopped.

"Here's the pens, where we keep the animals." With that, she led them inside. The smell hit Lukas immediately, making him cough, tears forming in his eyes and making him clamp a hand over his nose and mouth. As an Acumen you didn't really spend a lot of time around farming animals, only really that that were domestic.

The room was huge, not as big as the main cavern but not small either, and all along the walls were large pens that held a variety of cattle and other animals. Sheep, cows, pigs, chickens, geese… it really was a sight. But the smell… it was awful. The new Ignoramus also seemed to be having the same trouble as Lukas, all retching or covering their mouths. The Ignoraimless and Emma seemed to be unaffected, though.

"Kaelin!" Matthias shouted into the cave, trying to be heard above the noise. "Kaelin!"

A few seconds later, a boy came into view, walking down one of the walkways between the pens. He had relatively curly light brown hair and pale green eyes- much like Jett's- and a shepherd's staff clutched in one of his hands. Following at his heels were two dogs- one a dark brown and incredibly fluffy, the other was larger and a slightly dirty white, though the breed wasn't exactly identifiable…

"Hello!" Kaelin greeted once he reached them with a smile. "I'm Kaelin! You must be the new guys!" Each of the Ignoramus nodded, staring at him curiously. Kaelin beamed at them, before his gaze settled on Maxim, who was staring intently at the white dog.

"That dogs cute." Maxim said absentmindedly.

"Pelutze?" Kaelin asked, looking down at the dog. "Yes, she is. Would you like to pet her?" Maxim stammered something, which Kaelin took as a yes and gently nudged Pelutze with his foot. The dog immediately went to Maxim, who didn't hesitate to crouch down and rub her fur.

"She likes you!" Kaelin commented. "Do you like animals?"

"I love them…" Maxim answered, kneading the animals fur between his fingers.

"Maybe you can work with me here?" Kaelin asked, looking at Emma, who shrugged.  
"Noted. I'll take your request like I've done for Feliciano and Jett." Kaelin nodded, before leaning one hand on his shepherd's staff and leaning down to pet the second dog.

Only, when it made a noise of appreciation, it didn't bark.

"Is that a _sheep_?" Alfred asked dubiously. Kaelin looked up and nodded happily.

"Yep! This is Simon. I've had him since he was a lamb... He was rejected by his mother so I took him in instead." Lukas heard Dmitri stifle a laugh.

"Th… that's cool…" Raivis said quietly, admiring the sheep from his place by Feliciano. He hadn't said much since he had arrived, so his voice was only heard by those standing immediately next to him.

"What else have you got left to show them?" Kaelin asked.

"I'm only taking them on a tour of the main rooms, then I'll show them their rooms tonight," Emma replied. "I'm taking them to the field and harvest rooms next."

"Ah," the shepherd responded, then laughed when Pelutze suddenly got a little too excited and began licking Maxim's face. "I'd let you take her with you while you go and look around, but animals aren't allowed out of this room unfortunately…" Kaelin said with a sad sigh. Maxim managed to stand up and rubbed Pelutze's ears one more time.

"Shall we move on?" Emma said, already walking towards the door. "You'll see Kaelin at dinner anyway."

"See ya!" Matthias waved goodbye and Kaelin returned the gesture, before the others filed out of the room and went even deeper underground.

"That place smelled horrible." Lukas said dryly when they got out. Matthias laughed.

"Don't worry, you won't have to go there often. You can guess why there's only Kaelin working in there now, huh?"

 **XoXoX**

A few minutes later, Emma stopped at a slightly larger opening in the cavern wall and without explaining to the rest of them what was inside, walked through it.

This cave was at least twice the size of the one they had been in previously with Kaelin. It was also the first one they had seen electricity in, which were used in the lights fastened to the cavern ceiling, over row upon row of vegetables and fruits. Lukas saw at least seven or eight people doing various jobs; watering, planting, turning over the soil… it looked like hard work.

"This is the fields and harvests room." Emma explained. "Here is where we grow most of our food. This is one of the most important places in the Complex. It also-" she was abruptly cut off when Natalya let out a gasp and began running down a small walkway between the fields. Lukas craned his neck, who was she running at?

But then in the distance, he saw a woman look up and let out shriek, before getting to her feet and running at Natalya also. Emma smiled.

"Looks like she's found Katyusha." With that, she began walking down the walkway too, followed closely by the others. Matthias looked slightly confused.

"Any idea who they are to each other?" He asked Lukas, who frowned. Why did he keep asking him?

"No." He said simply and as coldly as he could, so that Matthias would perhaps get the message. He didn't.

"Well we'll just have to find out!" He responded. When they reached the two, Katyusha and Natalya were hugging tightly, the female named Katyusha sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh, Natalya…!" She said, running her hands through her hair. "I'm so glad I get to see you again!" Natalya mumbled something back then let go of her, allowing the others to see the full figure of Katyusha.

The first thing Lukas noticed was cleavage. _Huge_ cleavage.

Now, he really didn't mean to stare, but how someone could be carrying things _that_ big was beyond him. He wasn't the only one staring either, Maxim, Alfred, Dmitri and Emil were too. Feliciano and Raivis seemed to be awkwardly looking around and the Ignoraimless (plus Emma and Natalya) seemed used to it. Katyusha smiled at them.

"H-hi! I'm Katyusha! I'm a worker here in the fields…" then she reached over to crush Natalya against her chest once more. Lukas managed to tear his gaze away and instead settled on staring at a vine containing some small green objects, the same ones that Matthias had fed him earlier that day. "Thank you so much Emma, and you Ignoraimless, for bringing my little sister to me!"

"They're sisters?" Dmitri asked with a frown, looking from Natalya to Katyusha.

"Yes!" Katyusha said, rubbing her eyes to get rid of the tears that had formed there. "We haven't seen each other in seven or eight years!"

Maxim whistled. "That's a long time."

"It is…" Natalya said quietly, pretending that she had not been crying either. Emma went to say something else when a loud and quite pleasant ringing sound rung through the air. Everyone in the room looked up and a smile formed on Matthias's face.

"That's dinner!" He said. "Great! I'm starving!"

"Let's hope Jett's made something edible…" Leon commented dryly. Emma fixed her glasses and turned to face the others.

"It's perfect timing actually! This room concludes Emma's tour of wonder and excitement, I hope you all learned something new and now know your way around." She chuckled at the Ignoramus's faces. "Don't worry, if you get lost we'll show you around. Right boys?" The girl said to Matthias and Leon, who both mockingly saluted her.

"O' course." Matthias said goofily. "Now, let's go eat!"

With that, they all began to walk through the fields once more, arriving at the doors. People were already filing out, chattering happily and stretching. Emil seemed to be caught in a conversation with Maxim about the cuteness of that white dog- Pelutze?- and Lukas soon found himself striking up a conversation with Emma.

"Where you raised here?" He asked softly. Emma looked up at him, a wiry smile on her lips.  
"Yes, I've been here all my life. It does get a bit boring after a while but the atmosphere here is enjoyable."

"I can tell." Lukas replied. "When will we be judged?"  
"The judging will be tomorrow after breakfast," she responded, the humour in her voice evident. "It gives you some time to settle down before we put you to work."

"I see." Lukas said, before walking through the door to the dining rooms.

And for the first time since he left the City, Lukas thought he might have found somewhere he could call home.

* * *

 **A/N:** believe it or not that chapter was harder to complete then it sounded. There was so much I needed to make sure to include ;-; oh well!

Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter! Sorry if any characters are OOC- I do try!

Of course, new cast (I will do this if any new characters are introduced from now on)

 **Ignoramus**

Emma: Monaco

Jett: Australia

Kaelin: New Zealand

Katyusha: Ukraine

Briefly mentioned: Seychelles, Slovakia, Czech Republic

Pelutze: Luxembourg's dog

Simon: New Zealand's sheep

See ya in the next chapter!


	7. The Decision

**the decision**

* * *

Lukas found himself disliking Matthias even more the next morning.

Why Lukas disliked him in the first place was simple. He was loud, way too arrogant and cocky, _and_ had called him 'cute'. Those aspects annoyed Lukas more than anything… Though he didn't hate Matthias. How could he hate someone who had effectively saved his life?

But that particular morning, even after knowing the boy for a day, he was wondering if he was morally allowed to hate him regardless of the lifesaving.

He was woken up by the loud sound of clanging, which ran through his ears like a piercing scream. His head pounded from the sound and he let out a loud moan, bringing up the blanket and burying his face in his pillow.

"Gooooooooood morning, newbies!" Came the awfully lurid sound of Matthias's voice over the infernal clanging. The sound stopped after a few more minutes, and Lukas could hear the angry groans of the others around him. They'd all been put in the same room for the time being, so when Judgment had finished they could move into the respective rooms with the people they would work with were. Apparently everyone shared rooms because even though the Complex was huge, there were quite a lot of people and it took time to dig extra rooms. Lukas wasn't too pleased about that, but he guessed he couldn't complain.

"C'mon li'l ones the sun is up and not shining down here because we are underground!" Matthias announced cheerfully, setting down the metal basin and stick he'd been using to rouse them. "Today is the day you will get judged! Exciting, right?"

"Very exciting." Emil snapped, throwing a pillow at the Ignoraimless, who promptly dodged it.

"If you're late you won't get any breakfast!" Matthias tried, grinning smugly to himself when the Ignoramus let out loud groans but finally found the motivation to get out of bed. Alfred seemed to be the only one who got out of bed and looked energetic enough to run around the Complex. Twice. The others looked like the living dead, with faint hints of bags under their barely-open eyes. Matthias patiently waited while they got dressed, went to the bathroom, washed their faces etcetera, then directed them through the door to a waiting Vladimir who took them down to the Cafeteria. Lukas looked the worst out of all of them, glaring at everyone who dared to step near him. Emil didn't see bothered by this though. He knew that his brother would be fine after a few cups of cof... Wait, what if they didn'thave coffee?

"Um, Matthias!" Emil said suddenly, making his way over to the boy.

"Yeah?" He replied, standing up straighter.

Emil lowered his voice and looked up at Matthias seriously. "Is there coffee here? Please tell me there is." The Ignoraimless stared at him, before his face split into a grin.

"Yep. I know a few people who would be on a killing spree if there wasn't. You can have as much as you want."

"I'm not particularly bothered, it's Lukas that needs it." Emil said with a small smile. "He's like a demon without it."

Matthias grimaced. "Then he and Tino will get on great." Just then, Lukas finished with whatever he was doing and stomped over to the door, grabbing Emil by the arm and pushing past the other boy to join the others.

They filed into the Cafeteria and grabbed their food- Lukas choosing porridge which was so thick you had to cut it before taking a mouthful- then sat at the table that had been assigned to the new Ignoramus. Matthias and Vladimir went off to join Tino, who was sipping out of a cup of coffee and glaring at his grain. The other Ignoraimless seemed to be elsewhere, probably doing other jobs. Lukas reached over and snatched the coffee pot from Maxim as soon as he sat down, seeking out the boost that the drink could give him.

"So! What's everyone's dream jobs for here?" Alfred asked enthusiastically to the tired Ignoramus. "The Ignoramus Government sounds cool, right?"

"I hope I'll be able to work with Kaelin," Maxim said.

"Geez, you should just marry that dog already!" Alfred laughed, knowing the exact reason why Maxim was so desperate to go back to the pens.

"I hope I get to work with Jett!" Feliciano added. "This food doesn't seem… uh…"

"Edible." Dmitri said, looking down disappointedly at his granola- or what was supposed to be granola.

"I think I was requested to work with my sister." Natalya commented through her own cup of coffee.

"What about you four?" Feliciano asked, looking at Raivis, Dmitri, Lukas and Emil.

"U-uh… well…" Raivis began, wringing his hands. "Maybe they'll put me within the Government…" Dmitri shrugged.

"Maybe I'll go into the Government too. I have some ideas."

Alfred tilted his head. "Ideas?" Dmitri just nodded in response. Emil shrugged.

"I… I guess I hope I get put with Lukas."

Lukas nodded in agreement and drained his cup of coffee, poured himself another, before setting to work on his porridge, though the word 'cement' might be of better use. Ten or so minutes later, Emma strode in to the Cafeteria, straight over to Matthias. She tugged his sleeve then muttered something to him. He let out a loud sigh before standing up and running a hand through his unruly hair and then jogged out the hall. Lukas watched him leave over the top of his coffee cup, before nudging Emil who looked up at Emma. The female walked over to their table and cleared her throat politely.

"Ignoramus, it's time for your Judgement. You'll be called out one by one and it'll take about five minutes each. After you've been judged you'll be directed to your new sleeping quarters and then shown what you'll need to do for work." She fixed her glasses, then looked at Natalya, who was sitting closest. "Would you like to come with me?"

Natalya nodded and put down her cup, before standing up. Feliciano wished her luck, which she returned, and then the girl followed Emma out the hall.

"And now we wait." Alfred said, sitting back and stretching. "So, has anyone got any good food jokes?"

 **XoXoX**

One by one the Ignoramus were called out the hall by Emma, until it was only Lukas and Emil left. They watched as Maxim was called out, before the two were left alone at the table.

"Do you think they got the jobs they wanted?" Emil asked his brother, who in turn shrugged.

"Maybe. It depends who they're short on."

Lukas jumped when someone slapped his back playfully, making him almost drop his third cup of coffee. Vladimir plopped down in the seat beside him, while Tino sat on the one next to Emil.

"You two looked lonely, so we've come to keep ya company." Vladimir stated, leaning his elbow on the table and propping his chin up with it.

"How kind of you." Lukas said dryly. Vladimir seemed as obnoxious as Matthias, which made Lukas feel some sort of immediate dislike. Tino- who seemed to be more awake now- smiled.

"Don't be nervous about the Judgment. It'll be fine."

"Apart from the fact that Matt's dad is freaking scary."

"Vlad!" Tino gasped, frowning at him.

"Sorry, but it's true." Vladimir shot back. "I'm pretty sure he eats small kids for breakfast. Maybe that's the reason he-"

"Yes, thank you for that, Vladimir." Lukas interjected, sending the strawberry-blond a dark look. Vladimir whistled.

"Wow, you're scary!"  
"I try."

"Any idea where you two would like to go?" Tino asked, quickly changing the subject. "There are a variety of jobs here at the Complex."

"I just want to get put with Lukas," Emil said. "He can be annoying but at least he's one person I know."  
"They'll take that into consideration." Vladimir said kindly. "Hey, you two might even get picked as an Ignoraimless."

"I doubt it," Tino responded. "Matthias picks the Ignoraimless."  
"He does? Based on what?" Lukas queried with a frown.

"I… I'm not sure…" the other said truthfully. "I guess it's people he trusts or those who have potential."

"Do you Ignoraimless just go and collect the Ignoramus?" Emil interrupted, staring at both Vladimir and Tino with curious eyes.

"Nah, we do tons of other jobs!" Vladimir said. "For example, we go and scavenge for any resources that were left behind from civilisation before the End, we keep tabs on the City, find different ways to combat sand storms, learn how to use weapons if they're needed… It's great fun!"

"Sounds it." Lukas said sarcastically.

"Mr Bondevik." The sudden voice made all four of them jump, and Vladimir jolt so violently he knocked the coffee container off the table which landed unceremoniously in his crotch.

"Ow! Fuck!" He swore, standing up and grabbing some material to try and absorb the still warm liquid. Some people around the room started laughing and one person even began slow clapping, much to Vladimir's dismay. Emma stared at him, unamused, before turning back to Lukas.

"Would you like to follow me?" She asked politely, then stepping back as the blond stood. Before he rose fully, Emil reached over and gently grabbed his hand.

"Good luck." He said simply, nervousness shown in his violet eyes. Lukas gave him a rare thin-lipped smile.

"And to you." Then he followed Emma out of the hall.

 **XoXoX**

Emma led him out the Cafeteria to the main cavern, before down the walkways towards the bottom of the Complex.

Lukas would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. He was worried for two reasons; firstly, would he be put with Emil? He hoped so. As much as the Ignoramus/aimless had been kind and hospitable, he was still quite wary. Secondly, there was something nagging at the back of his mind… what if they asked about his IQ test? He technically passed it as a high-level Acumen… and from the way Matthias talked about them in such disgust he guessed Acumen weren't very popular down in the Complex. Still… Emma had said they wouldn't kick any of them out… so in theory he should be fine, right?

"Are you ok, Mr Bondevik?" Emma's sudden voice made him start.

"Yes, I'm fine." He responded coolly once he had composed himself. Emma looked up at him with searching eyes, before she nodded.

"You must be tired of hearing things like that, so I won't ask again." Lukas decided he liked Emma. She seemed the most level-headed out of all of them.

As they got closer to the bottom of the cavern, Lukas was able to make out a pair of gigantic double doors carved into the wall, which he could only guess served as a meeting hall for the Ignoramus Government. When they finally got to the last walkway, then down the last ladder to stand on the firm floor of the Cavern, Lukas found that unless he bent backwards he could not see the top of the cave. He couldn't even begin to imagine how long it must have taken to dig out this entire place- centuries, if not decades. The place was certainly impressive.

He and Emma stopped at the double doors, and the small female delivered a few swift knocks on the material- iron maybe?- and stepped back. Within a few seconds, the door was pushed open by two new people. They examined him, before they let both he and Emma through.

The Government's room wasn't as big as Lukas had expected, but it certainly was grand. Lots of candles burned along the walls, and intricate patterns were engraved into the cement-like substance too. At the end of the cave were three seats or thrones, the middle one taken up by a broad-shouldered man with stormy grey eyes and a mass of blond hair. The one on the left was taken up by a delicate looking female with long black hair and green eyes. The one on the right was taken up by the only person Lukas recognised- Matthias. That was strange… the man resembled Matthias a little, which proved it was his father, but the women on the right didn't resemble him in the slightest. He assumed it was his mother, since her and Matthias's father's fingers were intertwined tightly, and judging by her swollen belly she was heavily pregnant.

Matthias had his chin rested on hand, which rested on the arm of his throne. He looked incredibly bored, like he wanted to be somewhere else, but as soon as he glanced up and saw Lukas, he sat up straight and gave him a cocky smile. Lukas only rolled his eyes- he was in no mood for theatrics. At least ten other people were seated in the hall, turning their heads to observe the newcomer. Lukas held his head up high, walking with what he hoped were confident footsteps, before stopping a few feet in front of the thrones.

"Emma, you can go and get the final one." Matthias's father said with a firm and strong toned voice. Emma nodded, then went to go and retrieve Emil. "You must be Lukas Bondevik," The male began, fixing Lukas with a hard and critical look. "My son has told me a lot about you."

"Is that so?" Lukas responded, meeting his challenging gaze. Matthias's father was obviously impressed by his refusal to back down and nodded.

"Yes, he has. He's taken quite a liking to you ever since you punched him in the jaw." Matthias flushed and rubbed his chin, where an ugly bruise had formed from yesterday's events.

"He wasn't being very gentle." Lukas retorted.

"Yes, he can be heavy-handed at times." The other answered, giving his son a sideways look. Then he focused on Lukas again.

"So, any idea where you would prefer to work?"

"I am not so sure, sir."

"I see…" the man muttered, then he shifted in his seat to get more comfortable. "What were your IQ test scores? We can work it out from there."

Oh shit.

Lukas's jaw tightened and his heart began to thump in his chest. He should have just made something up. He should have but no, he had to be honest. Well, it was too late to make a story now, so…

"I… I actually passed as an Acumen, sir."

Then it was as if everything went into slow motion. Gasps erupted around the room and people stood up out of their seats. Matthias's eyes widened and his jaw dropped, but then his head whipped around to his father to see what he was going to do. His dad looked outraged, but didn't get to his feet like the others in the hall, instead gripping the woman's knee protectively. Lukas broke his cool demeanour to look around and bring up his fists protectively. There was a lot of confusion and shouting for a few minutes, before Matthias's father's loud voice rang through the room.

"SILENCE!" The cave fell into immediate quietness, the people returning to their seats and looking up at the leading male. "So you are Acumen, Mr Bondevik?" He said the word 'Acumen' with so much malice that Lukas felt himself shudder.

"I am."

"Then you admit to being a spy for the Acumen society?" Lukas blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"You admit to being a spy, Mr Bondevik."

"No, I don't." Lukas said firmly. "The Acumen Government revoked my score." There was some angry muttering, but Matthias's father held up a hand to silence them once again.

"Please elaborate."

"I was sorted into a high-percentage Acumen, but my brother was sorted into an Ignoramus," Lukas explained. "I tried to disrupt the percentage readings to go and reach my brother. When I got violent they sedated me and locked me in a cell, before forcing me in front of the Acumen Government. They told me they had revoked my score since I was a rebel and told me I was going to have to face the Outside with the other Ignoramus."

"Liar!" Someone called out. "No Acumen would willingly die for an Ignoramus!"

"I'm not lying," Lukas hissed. "You can even ask my brother about what happened at the percentage readings."  
"But they could have bribed you." Matthias's father barked. "You could be a spy and feed the Acumen with information you get from here."

"No, I-"

"As an Acumen in an Ignoramus society, you should be banished to die in the desert," he continued. "And we cannot afford for you to gather any more information."  
"But-!"

"So as leader of the Ignoramus society, I hereby-"

"Wait!" The leading Ignoramus paused, and turned to his right hand side where the sudden voice came from.

"Matthias?"

The Ignoraimless jumped to his feet, down the short steps that lead up to the thrones and stood by Lukas defiantly.

"Dad, you can't do this!" Matthias exclaimed. "I believe what Lukas says!"

"Matthias, it is your word against every single one of the Ignoramus Government." His father growled back.

"If you do this, you'll be just as bad as the Acumen society."

As soon as the words left his lips, Matthias had full attention from the entire cave. His father's face was wrinkled in confusion and he stared at Matthias with a frown.

"Look," Matthias continued. "If we kick him out we'll be just as bad as the Acumen. They kick out who they class as stupid people to die, right? What makes us any better if we kick out one of them? You've always said you swore we would never be like one of the Acumen, and what are you doing right now?"

"But he's an Acumen," his father pressed. "What if he has connections to go outside the Complex and feed the Acumen Government information?"

"Then we keep an eye on him and never leave his side!" Matthias argued.

"How?" His father said firmly. "Tell me, who would be willing to stay by his side and make sure he doesn't, or to at least prove he's innocent?"

Matthias was quiet for a moment, then mumbled something inaudible.

"What was that?" His father said.

"I said," Matthias responded, louder this time. "Let him become one of my Ignoraimless."

" _What?_ " Both his father and Lukas cried out at the same time.

"I can keep an eye on him that way, and so will the rest of my Ignoraimless. They're loyal to me, remember, so they won't pull anything over. He can also prove himself through doing the jobs we do." Matthias's father seemed to consider this, but before he could say anything, Lukas got there first.

"But what about Emil?" He asked, fixing Matthias with a hard stare.

"He can work with Emma." Matthias answered immediately, glancing at Lukas before quickly telling him; "Emma's an Ignoraimless too, but is our… what would you call it… Ground control I guess. She does various other jobs and can take care of him."

The Government room went almost unnaturally quiet, before Matthias's father spoke again.

"If Mr Bondevik can prove to us he is not an Acumen spy, we'll let him stay. If not, he will be left in the Outside. All those in favour, raise your right hand." Lukas held his breath as a few people raised their hands.

Four.

Four people wanted to keep him- not even half.

Matthias snorted, abhorrence plastered all over his usually carefree face. "Seriously? My God. Is what I've been telling the new Ignoramus all this damn time a lie? That we have a heart? This kid here has a brother who's barely in his teens and the last thing he has from the home he was viciously ripped from. You guys really want to pull him away from his brother for a second time and kick him out of the place where he could finally call home?"

Yet again, after Matthias finished talking, silence followed. But hope rose rapidly in Lukas's chest when slowly, tentatively, one... two… three… four more hands rose. Over half. The majority in fact. They'd voted in favour of it.

That made it twice that that damned Ignoraimless had saved his life.

Matthias looked genuinely surprised that his little speech had worked and it showed in his large eyes, but he kept his jaw set firmly and turned to his father.

"The majority is for it. Is it decided?" The other male looked around the room once more, before nodding.

"Yes, it's decided. Make sure you do what has been asked of you and keep a close eye on him. If there are any hints that he may be a sort of spy… he won't be given a second chance."

"Understood." Matthias said immediately, before placing a hand on Lukas's shoulder and steering him out the room. At the doorway they passed Emma and Emil, who was looking incredibly nervous and kept playing with the material of his jacket. Emil's eyes lit up when he saw Lukas, giving him a questioning look. Lukas, as he passed, glanced up at him.

"It'll be ok," he whispered, and for the first time that morning, he believed it. When the doors shut behind them, Matthias stepped back and examined the other boy.

"Why did you save me?" Lukas asked, raising an eyebrow.

Matthias smiled faintly. "I couldn't let them just kick you out. We practically promised you you wouldn't be, so I couldn't break that promise. Emil would never forgive us." Well… at least that sounded plausible.

"So what happens now?" Lukas crossed his arms and stared at the other with an expectant look in his pale eyes. Matthias grinned and patted his shoulder.

"Now, I gotta see how much ya can withstand," he said, smirking at Lukas's alarmed face. "Don't worry, it's not too bad. Just remember, Lukas, you're one of my Ignoraimless now. The reason they consented to this is because we have the most dangerous jobs.

Let's get started, shall we?"

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi again! Ok, so Lukas (and Emil) have been made Ignoraimless! Yay! As you can tell this is going to be a lot of fun ;P just so you know, both Matthias's father and his step-mother (more on that soon) are OC's and therefore not characters from Hetalia.

As an additional note, thank you again to everyone who reviewed! It makes my day~!

And with that, see ya in the next chapter!


	8. The Questioning

**the questioning**

* * *

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Lukas was shoved backwards- the sand cushioning his fall as he landed hard on his back.

He grit his teeth and sat up, glaring at Matthias with a new found hatred. "Just what do you think you're doing, Køhler?" He snapped, watching as the other five Ignoraimless climbed out of the hole and stood in an almost uniform line beside their leader.

"I already told you," Matthias said in a firm and almost cold tone of voice, bringing his goggles down over his eyes and pulling up his hood and scarf. "This is part of the training. I won't be nice to you until you can prove to me that you're worth the time and the effort. Every single one of the others here have been through this and so you will too."

Copying Matthias's moves, the other Ignoraimless lifted their hoods and scarves up, pulling their goggles down to shield their eyes from the barbaric sun, masking all their identifiable features until they looked like clones of one another. Lukas raised an eyebrow, brushing his hair back out of his eyes, the glare never faltering from his expression.

"When will I get the uniform?"

"When you've done your training," Vladimir responded, adjusting his gloves. "It's kind of like a gift!"

"So for now I'll have to face getting sunstroke?" Lukas responded sarcastically. Matthias smiled beneath his scarf, warming yet again to the smaller males aggressiveness.

"C'mon," he said stiffly, beginning to walk, quickly followed by the other five. As Tino passed however he extended a hand to help Lukas up, which the other took.

"Where are we going?" He asked the medic, his flimsy Acumen shoes slipping on the dozens of grains that crunched beneath his feet.

"There's a special training arena for the Ignoraimless not far from here," Tino replied in a hushed tone of voice. "Matthias's mother trained him there and that's where Matthias trained us."

Lukas's mind went back to the woman he had seen previously in the Ignoramus Government room, with her long flowing black hair and thin build- hardly the body type of someone that could have trained someone to fight. "Really?" He asked with a slight frown. "His mother? She didn't seem the type-"

"That woman you saw with my father is _not_ my mother," The sudden snappy tone made both Lukas and Tino start. Matthias must have overheard them, but made no move to stop or even look at the two. Instead he just kept walking, his heavy steps creating small landslides in the sand.

Tino's cheeks flushed and he looked down guiltily. "Sorry, Matt...!" He called, his gloved fingers playing with the hem of his coat. He spared a glance up at the very confused Lukas, before giving him a weak smile (not that Lukas could actually see it). "I'll let Matt explain it to you," he mumbled. "He doesn't like it when we talk about his step-mother..."

His step-mother? Lukas's expression softened as he glanced up at the back of Matthias's head, blocked by the thick fabric of the coat. His curiosity was indeed piqued- what had happened to her? Was she dead or alive? If she was alive, where was she?

His train of thought was cut off when the others stopped abruptly. Lukas looked past Leon's shoulders to see a small object jutting out of the ground- a metal beam of sorts. Matthias gestured to Leon, who in turn followed him over to it, before they both gripped the beam (which was about as thick as Lukas's torso) and with loud grunts managed to turn it one hundred and eighty degrees. There was a loud creak and then the sound of something interlocking, before the two of them pushed the beam down into the sand with obvious difficulty. As they did it however, a loud cranking sound could be heard, then little by little the sand by their feet gave way to form a slope down below the surface of the sand. Lukas's eyes widened in surprise as he observed the slope get bigger and bigger until it was almost went vertically down into the ground, stopping only when the beam gave one last shuddering clunk and seemed to stick firmly in the lock.

Matthias wiped his hands on his coat before retrieving a small handheld item from a pouch at his belt, then sitting down in the grains by the top of the opening. He turned to look up at Lukas with a hidden grin. "Here's the entrance to the Ignoraimless training cavern. We'll spend the whole day down there doing a few tests. The physical training is the last step after this and will take more than a day and most likely more than a week, but here's the first real part." With that he edged forward and just as he was about to drop, he seemed to wink behind his goggles. "See you on the other side."

With that he pushed forward and slid down the slope, into the impending darkness. The others waited for him to disappear before Im Yong stretched. "So! Which one of you chickens is going first?" An awkward silence fell before Leon rolled his eyes and walked over to the opening, then literally jumping down it. Vladimir soon followed, saluting his other comrades.

"Before I go, I would just like to say a few things. One, life is short and-"

"You're not going to die!" Feliks huffed and gave him a shove so that Vladimir stumbled back and fell down the opening, letting out a playful yell before being swallowed up by the darkness. Feliks sat down on the sand and edged forward, before daintily sliding down the slope.

"Tino," Im Yong gestured. The smaller male shuddered and peered down the slope, clearly overly enthused by the idea. Nevertheless, he swallowed hard and followed Feliks's footsteps, sitting down on the ledge before pushing off down the slope, Leon following soon after. After he had gone, Im Yong turned to the last of them.

"Hey, Bondevik," he said, a mixed expression on his face. "I don't want you to worry about Køhler, ok? His mood fluctuates... sometimes he's overwhelmingly happy and then sometimes he's snappy. It happened right after his mother..." Im Yong trailed off, avoiding Lukas's eyes.

"... What happened to his mother?" Lukas asked, approaching the other slowly. Im Yong let out a long sigh and peered down the slope, where the sounds of voices chattering from deep underground could be heard.

"I... I'm not sure if I'm the one that should be telling you this, but..." he pursed his lips behind his scarf. "If you don't tell Matt I told you, then..."

"I won't," Lukas promised. Im Yong stared hard at him before sighing again.

"All right..." he cracked his knuckles before carrying on. "I think this was about eight years ago when he was eleven- a few months before I joined them. His mother and her team of Ignoraimless were out scavenging and had decided to bring Matt with them. However, their weather expert had failed to pick up signs that a sand storm was coming, so by the time that he had realised the storm was practically upon them. They tried putting up the tent but they weren't as sturdy as the ones we have now thanks to Leon, and it collapsed due to the pile up. It was all they had though, so they all had to get inside, collapsed or not. Nevertheless... there wasn't enough room. Due to it collapsing it had gone a weird shape or something like that, but either way one of them was going to have to stay outside. So Matt's mother made him go inside, said her last goodbyes and wandered off into the storm.

Thanks to her sacrifice the rest of the team survived and crawled out of the tent a few days later when the storm calmed. Tino told me that Matthias was a wreck when he came back, both grief stricken and very angry- especially at the weather expert. They never found Matthias's mothers body, so Matthias likes to think that she's still out there- lost, perhaps, but not dead. I guess it's all he has to hold on to as a memory of his mother. His father went into mourning but because he's the leader of the Complex he needed someone else to rule with him and that's where Matt's step-mother comes in. That's why he absolutely hates her and to an extent his father too for forgetting about her so quickly."

Lukas blinked. Well this was quite unexpected... though it did explain why he didn't resemble that woman at all. "Oh," was all he managed, before a question worked its way to his lips. "Who was the weather expert? He should still be here, right?" Im Yong frowned, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Um... actually-"

"Hey!" A voice called up from the depths. "Have you two died or something?!"

"Sorry!" Im Yong shouted back before gesturing to the slope. "C'mon, Bondevik, we're going to yelled at."

Lukas bit his lip in mild frustration, but complied. What had he been about to say? Either way, when he peered over the edge of the slope the drop made his stomach clench almost like nausea. However he didn't want to look weak, so he gritted his teeth and sat down in the sand, wriggling forward until his feet were dangling over the steep drop.

He took a deep breath, glanced up once more at the sky and then pushed himself forward- gravity overtaking him and pulling him down into the depths of the Earth.

 **XoXoX**

Surprisingly, the tunnel was not as bad as Lukas had initially expected.

It dropped for quite a few meters before the slope evened out some more, creating a sort of mock slide that carried on for about a hundred meters then curved sharply, all whilst in the pitch blackness. Without warning a light suddenly came into view at the end of the drop and before Lukas knew it he was sitting in a pile of cloth at the end of the ride. He squinted as his eyes adjusted, getting used to the new and unfamiliar surroundings. His initial thought- past the brightness of the room- was that it was incredibly dusty.

Once he could see again he quickly glanced around. It was only a small room, and going by what the layout was in the Complex was that it should open up into a whole cavern after a few twisting corridors. He was abruptly yanked to his feet by Feliks literal seconds before Im Yong shot out the tunnel, landing less gracefully into the pile of cloth. As soon as he'd helped Lukas up Feliks let go of him- like he was reluctant to touch him as if he carried some sort of disease. Lukas's eyes narrowed and he huffed, turning his back on the blond. What was his problem?

"Alright! We're all here now!" Vladimir announced, turning to Matthias, who was standing by the wall with his back to his team.

"Yeah..." Matthias replied distractedly, fiddling with something in his hands, a frown evident in the crease between his eyebrows. Suddenly his eyes lit up and he held up a small key. "Got it!" He said to no one in particular, before walking from one side of the room to the other, to a minuscule lock that could easily be overlooked. He spent a few minutes fitting the key into the lock before there was a dull clunking noise, followed by a creak as part of the wall swung open to reveal another chamber. When Lukas walked through it he couldn't help but let out a soft gasp. He knew he shouldn't be surprised by the Ignoramus's ability to build, but it nevertheless always seemed to take his breath away.

This new cavern was as tall as it was wide, filled almost to the brim with different equipment which Lukas could only assume was used for training. At the back of the room was some sort of physical arena- similar to that of the IQ Test physique room. To his left was a closed off area, glass encasing it. Inside there were piles of sand, which made Lukas frown. What on Earth could that be used for? To his right were an assortment of weapons- ranging from things similar to what the ALEIF's used right up to primitive bows. Just the sight of them made his spine tingle- most of them were so heavily illegal in the Acumen society that having one on you if you weren't an ALEIF was punishable by being sent into the Outside, which was synonymous to death. Directly in front of him was a simple table with a chair either side- like that in the mental and written exams of the IQ Test. Electric lights flickered overhead- not very strong but not weak either- illuminating the room a dim yellowy colour.

"Righty then!" Matthias announced loudly, clapping his hands together and creating an echo in the cavernous room, making the other six people in the room jump at his change of attitude. "We're down here for the rest of the day, boys, so make yourselves comfy. Except you, Bondevik," he added when Lukas went to join the others when they sat on the floor. "I'll explain this to you. We have three main tests- kind of like that... what do you call it... IQ Test of yours. It's simply questioning, a physical examination and then a drill to see how you do in a fake environment. We'll instruct you round the courses prepare you for them, but in no way are we allowed to actually help you. The questioning is to see if you will be a worthy Ignoraimless- don't worry, everyone in the last century has passed it- the physical is to see if your body can withstand the jobs we do and if it has the ability to carry them out, and finally the drill is to decide what position of Ignoraimless to put you in. Sound good?"

Lukas nodded. It seemed relatively simple and kind of easy- or at least easier than the IQ Test- so he should have no problem. Matthias grinned, then took off his goggles, scarf and coat and tossed them on the floor, before stretching his hands over his head.

"Right then! Let's start with the questioning!"

 **XoXoX**

The wood of the chair was cold and firm against his back when Lukas sat down, making him shudder. He moved it closer to the table, which had a small box with wires coming off of it, where Matthias was sat opposite, looking at something engraved on the table. He pursed his lips, then nodded.

"So, Lukas Bondevik, the first part of the Ignoraimless Exam is the questioning. It's quite simple actually. We hook you and the questioner up to this little box and we'll all ask you a couple of questions each on anything until the machine glows. As Ignoraimless we _have_ to get along as a team to work together quickly and efficiently, so it's just to see how compatible you are with each of us. If you're compatible, the machine will give off a red glow. If not, it'll give off a blue glow. Cool, right? I'll go last as the leader, so that means first will be... Väinämöinen! C'mon up!" Tino rose to his feet and trotted over, good naturedly shoving Matthias aside and then taking his place across from Lukas.

"Hi!" He greeted cheerfully, adjusting his position in the seat (finding it as uncomfortable as Lukas did) and picking up the wires. He then attached a small suction pad at the end of them to the inside of his wrist, before laying his hands flat on the table. Lukas slowly did the same, wondering how this process actually worked. Machines were quite advanced, but how could it read whether two people were compatible...? "I have to ask you some questions! I'm sure we'll get along just fine, but you know... Rules are rules!" Lukas didn't doubt they wouldn't get along either as he had warmed to the medic just fine. "Ok... so... uh... What... what's your favourite... colour?" He asked weakly, unsure on what he should actually ask.

The smallest of smiles worked its way onto Lukas's lips. "I can't decide between blue and purple."

"Oh, really?" Tino asked, sitting forward. "I love blue! Purple's nice too actually. I find them quite soft and mysterious colours compared to others such as pink or green... Oh, I'm going off topic. Alright, my second question... dogs or cats?"

Lukas thought for a moment, remembering the different types of dogs and cats he had seen or heard about and compared them. "Hmm... I think I like cats more."

"Ah, really?" Tino answered, sounding a little disappointed. "I like dogs more. One of the previous shepherd's dogs had a litter when I was younger, and he wasn't sure what to do with the runt as the mother couldn't feed them all. So I took her in! I named her Hanatamago. She was a lovely dog. Really was..." he said absently, trailing off.

Lukas wet his lips, sensing his sadness. "I'm sure she had a wonderful life and turned out to be a kind and loveable dog. With you as her owner, I'm sure it was impossible for her to turn out any other way."

Tino's whole _being_ lit up after that statement, and he looked at Lukas with a bright sparkle in his eyes that showed he had a new found respect for the other male. A sudden flash of red caught Lukas's eye, and he turned to look at the small machine which glowed a bright and strong red- looking hot to the touch. This piece of equipment was extraordinary...

"Hey, we're compatible!" Tino cheered, then winked. "I knew we would be." The other Ignoraimless clapped as Tino rejoined them and Leon stood up. He walked with teenage overconfidence to the table and attached the wires before placing his hand on the table and raising a rather bushy eyebrow at the other male.

"Well, might as well see if we're, like, compatible," he pursed his lips in thought, before asking; "So what was your opinion of the Acumen society?"

The question caught Lukas off guard. Was this a trick question? He shifted slightly, before deciding to answer honestly. "Well... at first, I thought it was normal. It seemed to be perfectly reasonable and fair, but I guess that was because I didn't know better. I had nothing to compare it with," he let out a low sigh. "Now that I do in fact have something to compare it with, I realise how it was in fact the exact opposite of what I originally thought. It's a very unfair system, with only the smartest being allowed to live and the others to be discarded like garbage. It's atrocious, really, but it'll carry on that way with everyone living in fear of those who are too intelligent and keep the whole society in check and also living in fear of not being clever enough and sent away to die like animals if they don't get a certain percentage on a difficult test... I'm so glad I managed to escape it and find what I think is a better society."

It was then that he realised he had probably said too much and closed his mouth, looking a little sheepish. However, the sudden red glow from the machine caught his attention and he glanced up at Leon, who was staring at him with absolute awe.

"Wow," he said after a moment of silence. "That was totally... unexpected. You are a very admirable character..." with that he disconnected the wires and stood up, a soft smile on his face, before he was almost immediately replaced with Im Yong.

"Hey!" Im Yong said happily, connecting the wires to his wrist with ease. "It's my turn! Can I just say that you've made a great impression on Leon. Hardly anything moves him, but damn... Anyway, let's start." He readjusted his position before clearing his throat.

"So, Lukas, do you think honesty is the best policy?"

It was quite a strange question, but seemed pretty plausible. "To an extent," he answered. "Honesty is a very important policy in relationships between any two or more people. It's difficult to trust a liar, especially if lying is repetitive on their terms. However... I believe that lying is needed but only if necessary."

"You think lying can be justified?" Im Yong asked, intrigued.

"Partially justified," Lukas corrected. "As I said, only if it's necessary it's justifiable. If not... then there's no excuse."  
"Define what you mean by when you say 'necessary',"

"Well, I think it's justifiable if it's a matter between life and death, don't you?" Im Yong thought about it for a moment before nodding.

"Good answer," he mumbled, before sitting up straight. "Next question... Do you believe there are more heroes, more villains, or an equal balance of both?"

"I believe that there is an equal balance," Lukas replied. "Good cancels out the evil and the evil cancels out the good. That's what keeps the world in check. Take the Acumen society for example- if the Acumen Government was left to complete villains who wanted only the best then the percentages would have to be unnaturally high. This would be the case if it wasn't for those good people within the society or in the Government, trying to save as many as they can without making the villain's unhappy. I'm not justifying their actions- it's just something I believe."

The machine began to glow again, a softer red than that of Tino's or Leon's, but red nonetheless. Im Yong didn't say anything when he stood up, all his words conveyed by the knowing and almost triumphant grin present on his lips. He was replaced by the one Lukas thought he would not get on at all with- the standoffish Feliks Łukasiewicz. Lukas's eyes narrowed whilst Feliks hooked himself up the machine, before drumming his fingers on the tabletop and fixing Lukas with his green eyed stare.

"Why were you kicked out of the Acumen society?" Feliks asked without blinking, his eyes searching. A cold feeling ran through Lukas as he met the challenging stare. He wasn't allowed to tell anyone- not even his own brother- about what had happened with the Ignoramus Government or the episode with his percentage scores. The Ignoramus hadn't wanted to create a panic or fear among their citizens, so the only ones who knew where Matthias, the ten in the hall, Matthias's father and step-mother and of course Lukas himself. It was _mandatory_ that it was kept an absolute secret, or he would face a serious consequence- something he had been told just before he met up with the Ignoraimless and was brought to the surface.

But... it was almost as if Feliks knew. There was something in that permanent smug stare that made Lukas think Feliks knew what had happened and wanted him to confirm his suspicions. However, he wasn't going to comply. He couldn't- for both his sake and Emil's. He couldn't jeopardise their chances at a new life away from the fear of not being intelligent, especially since the others had gone out of their way to help Lukas train as an Ignoraimless and Emma allow Emil to work with her.

"Because they calculated my percentage score and I got below the bar," he responded coldly. "What else?"

Feliks hummed and crossed one leg over the other. "So how was your home life? Adequate?" He asked shortly. Lukas could feel his grip on the table tightening.

"It was good, thank you,"

"Is that so? Then why didn't they fight for you?"

"They did."

"Then why are you here?" Lukas could feel the anger boiling up in him, and the almost bored expression Feliks was sporting wasn't helping. It was as if Feliks was pushing for some sort of reaction, but Lukas would be damned if he gave him the satisfaction.

"That is none of your business." The other replied in a clipped tone. Feliks was quiet, before- to Lukas's surprise- his expression softened and he gave Lukas a small smile.

"You have the patience and endurance of a saint," he said, leaning forward. "You've earned my respect, Bondevik." The sudden change of attitude made Lukas frown.

"Wait... what?"

"Look," Feliks said tiredly. "I don't admire people often and everyone knows I can be an asshole. You... There's something different about you. I don't know what it is, but there is something there. I still don't like you, but I respect you." As soon as the words left his lips, the machine began to glow. Both Lukas and the other Ignoraimless stared at it confusion. It was neither red, nor blue, instead a weak purplish colour. Feliks chuckled and stood up.

"I guess we're sort of compatible and also sort of not,"

Lukas was still trying to mull over the meaning of the machine when someone plopped into the chair opposite, a toothy grin on his face. "Hi, Bondevik!" Vladimir said, effortlessly attaching the wires. "It's my turn! Let's move on from Feliks's weird but wise words of... wisdom. So! What's your opinion on magic?"

Magic? Lukas raised an eyebrow. Wasn't that something that humans of the past made up? Something to explain more complex sciences that was beyond their levels of understanding?

"I... I'm not sure," he said uneasily. "I mean, it's something that was created as an explanation. It doesn't seem possible by any means." Vladimir frowned.

"I think magic is real," he said, his tone mirroring that of a child's. "There are some things science can't explain. People can turn to religion and anything else, but I believe it's some sort of magic."  
"You'll have to convince me of that,"

Vladimir smirked. "Oh, I'm sure I will," he adjusted his seating position and leaned on one of his hands. "So tell me, what's your favourite smell?"

Lukas frowned. That... was the strangest question he had ever been asked. "Uh," he began, raking through his brain to try and find an answer. Then, a certain smell suddenly registered in his mind, something that reminded him of warm days in his bedroom, curled up on his bed with a book in his hands, captured by the books fantastic tales and whimsical characters for hours on end. "The smell of the pages of old books," he said finally, a sudden wave of peacefulness washing over his soul at the memories.

Vladimir's oddly coloured eyes widened a fraction and his grin became brighter. "That's scary- old books are one of my favourite smells too! The way they crackle when you turn the pages too..." Lukas nodded enthusiastically, glad that he could share the experience with someone who didn't think he was insane. "What's your favourite genre?" Vladimir asked excitedly.

"Fantasy," Lukas responded immediately, causing Vladimir to laugh. "It's good we have the same book tastes, but that's kind of hypocritical! You don't believe in magic but like fantasy genres!"

"Just because I like a particular genre doesn't mean I believe in it's ideals," Lukas chided gently. Vladimir shrugged but seemed sold.

"Suit yourself!" The machine then began to glow, a vivid red- brighter than Tino's and Leon's. It seemed he was the most compatible with Vladimir, which Lukas didn't particularly mind. Vladimir grinned and detached the wires before standing up, only to be replaced by the last Ignoraimless- Matthias. Lukas's stomach suddenly twisted, making him wince and recognising the odd feeling as anxiety. What was he anxious about? Being compatible with Matthias? He almost snorted. Matthias attached the wires and stared at Lukas with a curious expression, before tilting his head marginally.

"So I heard you liked books,"

"You heard correctly," Lukas responded coldly.

"Actually," Matthias continued, ignoring his tone. "I was wondering if you had heard of the author Hans Christian Andersen."  
"... Who?"

Matthias looked slightly disappointed. "Oh... He was a famous Danish author who wrote kids fairy tales. I love his work and think it's amazing, so I was just wondering."

Recognition suddenly struck Lukas. He didn't know the name- he had never heard it in his life- but there was something about the way Matthias had worded it that made him frown. A famous Danish author who had written children's fairy tales. Hans Christian Andersen...

The answer hit him like a tone of bricks.

 _What was the name of the famous Danish author who wrote children's fairy tales?_

It was the question he had got stuck on during the IQ Test! The one he hadn't known the answer to! Annoyance began to build up inside him again. An Ignoramus had known the answer whereas he, a technical Acumen, hadn't? What sort of ridiculousness was this? He stopped himself before he could think anymore. That was an almost painfully Acumen way of thinking and it scared him. It scared him to the point he almost let it show but he maintained his cold demeanour and stared levelly at Matthias.

"So what are your questions?"

Matthias grinned. "What's your opinion of me?"

"I think you're annoying," Lukas responded in a monotone voice, making the other pout.

"But why?"

"Because you're too loud and very obnoxious," the grin came back to Matthias's features and he sat forward, consequently making Lukas sit back.

"That so?"

"Yes." As Lukas avoided the others gaze, he noticed with absolute mortification that the machine had begun to glow. This shade of red was more vivid and brighter than Tino's, Leon's, Im Yong's and Vladimir's combined, making Matthias and Lukas the most compatible of them all. Matthias's expression was smug and rather too happy, making Lukas clench his teeth.

He was never going to hear the end of this was he?

"Look how compatible we are!" Matthias announced happily, turning to the others. Lukas stood up and practically ripped the wires and suction pad off of his hand, before throwing it at Matt and crossing his arms introvertedly.

"Hey!" Matthias whined, detaching himself also. "What was that for?"

Lukas refused to answer, humiliation written all over his features. Vladimir and Im Yong noticed this and began to laugh, patting Matthias's shoulders simultaneously.

"When are you going to get it into your head that Lukas hates you with a passion?" Im Yong asked.

"The machine says otherwise!" Matthias argued, frowning.

"The machine shows your _compatibility_ not your feelings," Vladimir replied. "Meaning you two are more compatible than anything in the world but he hates your guts."

"Let's move on from this," Tino said, sensing Lukas's discomfort. "We've got two more tests to go and little time left!"  
"Of course!" Vladimir said contently before pulling Lukas away towards the physical course. "Hey, Im Yong and I can direct you through this! Sound good?"

The others followed, however Feliks paused when he passed by his team leader. "Matthias," he said, looking up at the significantly taller other. "You should let it go."

Matthias stared back at him, contemplating whether or not to defend himself, but instead sighed. "I can't,"

"You have to," Feliks hissed. "What you seem to not realise is your father won't allow it. This is for your own good. You are the next heir to the Complex and you will need heir's too. Besides, you don't even know if he feels the same. Furthermore, you haven't even known him that long."

Matthias sighed yet again, before running a hand through his spiky blond hair. "I know that, Feliks, and I will try. But I doubt it'll go away." Without another word he began walking, trailing after the group with a noticeable slouch in his posture.

Feliks watched him go, before sighing and looked down with narrowed eyes at his hands. "You total idiot, Matt," he muttered.

* * *

 **A/N:** Ah, sorry guys for the really really really really really _really_ late update! Please don't kill me! *holds up a shield*

Anyway, exams are officially over, but I have a busy summer so I will update when I can!

...

That's really all I have to say xD Oh! A big thank you to **Fluff Helps Everything** for helping me with this chapter! Also to **oiopakio** for motivating me ahahaha-

See you in the next chapter!


	9. The Clip

**the clip**

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in the City..._

The silence in the hall was almost overwhelming.

No one dared to speak or even make eye contact, all gazing at the walls or at their hands or something else- but never at each other. They were all waiting, sizing up the opportunity to speak and break the uncomfortable silence- to say the words that were on everyone's minds. Wang spared a glance at his younger brother- Honda- who was examining the papers in front of him. Kirkland's eyes flitted over to Edelstein, who in turn quickly looked at Héderváry.

Then, in almost perfect synchronisation, they stared at the head of the table to where Elder Bonnefoy sat. He had his hands folded in front of his nose, his eyes distant and fixed unblinkingly at the wall. The six elders of the Acumen Society had been called in for an emergency meeting, though in the half hour they had been there not a single one had said a word. A few more minutes passed, until Wang decided he couldn't take the silence any longer and cleared his throat.

"I'm sure we all know why we're here," the stares from everyone in the room made him feel unnerved, but he carried on nonetheless. "There's no point beating around the bush. What are we going to do?"

"What _can_ we do?" Honda asked quietly. "We're running out of options..."

"I expect there's a lot more against us then there is for us," Kirkland added.

"It's that Bondevik-Steilsson child's fault," Edelstein said immediately. "He's the one that started this whole affair."

"Well, he's most likely dead now, so there's not much we can do about that," Héderváry replied dryly, running her fingertips along the edge of the table. She hadn't been enthusiastic about the banishing of Lukas and now look what had happened...

"Wait..." all eyes turned to Bonnefoy, who had suddenly sat up. "That Bondevik-Steilsson child may not be dead. It's only been a few days so he may be still alive. If we get him back here we can stop it."

"You can't be serious...!" Wang spoke up, staring at him. "Do you know how much desert there is out there?!"

"If we don't look," Bonnefoy said in a tired tone. "Then everything we have worked so hard to maintain we should kiss goodbye. Either we look and get him back here or we face a potential revolution. Now, what say you?"

The others exchanged glances, before letting out defeated sighs. "We look."

"Good," Bonnefoy said, before turning to Honda. "Now, get me Oxenstierna and Beilschmidt. I've got a request for them."

 **XoXoX**

"Now, push up with your arms and grab that thingy. No-! Not that thingy I meant _that_ thingy!"

"You're really not helping, Popescu," Lukas said through gritted teeth, the strain on his arms becoming almost unbearable. Here he was, dangling seven foot off the ground, suspended by only his fingertips that were curled around a metal cylinder. A few inches ahead was another metal cylinder and beyond that another, forcing him to swing almost monkey-like from bar to bar to reach the other platforms.

"Just grab the next one," Im Yong said, standing with one leg on either side of the metal bars, hands on his hips. Vladimir, who was at the other platform, pouted.

"At least I'm trying!" Lukas shot a glare at the four watching them from the safety of the floor.

"C'mon, Lukie, you can do it!" Matthias shouted, a huge grin on his lips.

"It's 'Lukas', not 'Lukie'," the other grunted, reaching and grasping the next bar. The muscles in his arms were beginning to feel similar to the consistency of water, the strain a lot more than he was used to. The Ignoraimless agility course was a lot more challenging then that of the Acumen, but he guessed that was because the Ignoraimless needed the strength whereas the Acumen- unless they became ALEIF's- didn't. He managed to clasp his hands around the next bar and pull himself along, very much aware of the hard earth that sat beneath him. Even though it was inconvenient, the water underneath the Acumen course provided a softer landing then the hard-packed dirt, almost ensuring you left with a broken bone if you landed a weird way.

He reached for the last one and pushed himself forward, landing on the platform and collapsing when he did- the muscles in his arms and legs screaming for him to stop.

"Time for a break, I think," Vladimir commented, staring down with only mild concern on his face. Im Yong nodded and skilfully hopped from bar to bar to the platform.

"You've done well, Bondevik. That's about three-quarters of it done. The next bit doesn't need a significant amount of upper-arm strength unlike that one, so you should be ok." Lukas just nodded, his chest heaving, arms and legs splayed out.

"Is he alright?" Tino called up.

"He's fine, just exhausted!" Im Yong replied cheerfully, stretching his arms above his head. "He'll live!"  
"Let's hope so with you two instructing him," Leon muttered playfully, adjusting his clothes.

"I heard that!" Im Yong barked, his eyes narrowed.

"What a shame," Feliks smirked, continuing to examine his nails.

"Stop," Lukas hissed, closing his eyes. "You're giving me a headache."  
With that, he sat up, energy slowly returning to him. He was glad that the physical wasn't based on time but rather how many times you fell off- which was the grand total of once for Lukas. He stood and arched his back whilst he stretched, before swinging his arms a little by his sides.

"We may as well finish this."

"That's the spirit!" Vladimir laughed, pushing Lukas to the next stage of the course. It consisted of a serious of narrow ledges and rickety beams, which he could only guess was to test an Ignoraimless's balance. He was grateful it was not that dissimilar from the Acumen's, and this allowed him to move across it with relative ease- stealth measuring that of a cats.

"You did fantastically!" Matthias beamed, patting Lukas's shoulder (who in turn smacked his hand away) and gave Im Yong and Vladimir a thumbs up. "Good job, boys. Now, let's get the final bit over with."

"What's involved in the final set?" Lukas asked, eyeing the glass case and the sand dunes inside.

"So basically," Matthias said with mock importance. "We throw you into a fake sandstorm and see how you fare. Leon will go through how to set up one of his tents quickly and efficiently while we work on the storm. Then, you hide in the tent until it's passed and then gather up the tent. Easy, right?"

Lukas hummed, before glancing at Leon. Leon caught his eye and unstrapped some material from his belt, before gesturing for Lukas to follow him to a small mat.

"The rest of you better, like, stay out the way while we do this," Leon said, placing the material on the floor and waving his hands at the remaining teenagers in a 'shoo' gesture. The others shrugged and walked off towards their bags, no doubt getting some refreshments (even though they hadn't done an excessive amount). Leon watched them go, before he turned to Lukas.

"So... setting up the tent is totally easy, but there's a lot of things. Watch," with that, he grabbed the material and started twisting it into knots, and before Lukas knew it there sat a small and stable tent in front of him. He stared at it with bewilderment, before looking back at Leon, who smirked and in a couple of moves had reduced the tent to scraps of material again.

"I'll do it slowly," he purred when Lukas wordlessly blinked. With that he began to slowly tie a few knots together, and what Lukas hadn't noticed before was that there were a few pieces of string, which were pulled and tightened to make the rigid tent walls. After Leon tied the knots he pulled two more pieces of string and the whole thing opened up into a fairly spacious tent- complete with a small flap just big enough for a grown man to squeeze inside.

"See?" Leon asked, the context unknown, however Lukas seemed to understand what he meant.

"Yes. Show me how to tie a knot," Leon nodded, enthusiasm lighting up his usually dull brown eyes. After he'd shown Lukas how to tie the complex knot (which took little time as Lukas was a fast learner), the brunet instructed Lukas on which strings to pull and how to finally straighten it out. Then, to Lukas's concealed delight, the material opened up into a tent.

He practised a few more times, working swiftly and efficiently, until he began to memorise the string patterns and eventually managed to open up a tent without any assistance from the younger male.

"I expected you to have mastered this sooner," Leon teased, watching as Lukas reduced the tent to material again. He was met by a glare, but he could still see the hidden amusement in the others eyes. "I think you're ready to take on the simulator."  
"So... all I need to do is put up the tent?"

"You've got to calculate it just right," Leon told him, stretching his arms. "You loose marks if you do it too soon and get a mouthful of sand if you do it too late."

"How will I know?" Lukas asked with a frown.

"I know this, like, sounds really cheesy but you have to trust your instincts. I'd give a five minute leeway to get the tent up, to get inside and then to secure the flap. That's all the advice I can really give you."

"It's appreciated," the other told him, a ghost of a smile on his lips, before he turned to the others.

"Køhler!" The speed at which Matthias appeared almost frightened him, yet his expression didn't betray him. "I'm ready."

"Alright, then!" Matthias said cheerfully, before walking over to the glass box and sliding back a panel. "In you go!"

Lukas flexed his fingertips, accepting the tent material that Leon handed him, before climbing inside the glass cage, the sand immediately sliding away beneath his shaky steps. He watched the others congregate around the outside of the box and Tino give him a thumbs up. Matthias- after sliding the panel back into place- hit a button on the wall and stood back, crossing his arms and placing a goofy smile on his face.

"I call bets," Im Yong announced. "I bet that Lukas will misjudge it."

"What are you betting?" Tino asked, turning to look at the excitable boy. Im Yong thought for a second or two, before he grinned.

"Your coffee rations for a week."

Tino narrowed his eyes. "Ok. I bet that he won't misjudge it- betting on your rye bread portions for a week."

"Deal,"

"You guys are so immature," Feliks grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Guys shut it- it's starting!" Vladimir interrupted, edging forward a little and staring at Lukas intently. Inside the glass box, Lukas had his eyes glued to the ground. He was trying to recall what he had seen Feliks do in the brief moment he had seen him pick up signs of a sandstorm. He was almost sure that he had watched the grains of sand and felt the change in wind- so decided to play by that example.

Ten minutes passed by and still Lukas didn't tear his eyes away from the floor. He remained motionless, not daring to move in case he missed the oncoming signs. The simulation had produced a very gentle breeze, but it had not yet picked up.

"What's he doing?" Vladimir asked obliviously. "Has he frozen?"

"No," Feliks replied, watching the new Ignoraimless with an arched eyebrow and amused smile. "He's waiting."  
"For what?"

Before Feliks could answer however, Lukas visibly tensed, catching the attention of the six Ignoraimless. The grains had begun to scatter harder across the surface and the wind had risen slightly. A heavy pressure slowly began to encase the box, making Lukas feel as if he was being gradually pressed down into the floor. He started a mental stopwatch. Leon had said at most a five minute leeway in order to get the highest marks, but Lukas was sure he could do it in less. He waited what he judged to be another ten minutes before he dropped the material on the ground and replicated what he had been taught earlier. His heart momentarily stopped when a string caught, but his rational mind allowed him to untangle it and continue to construct the tent. The wind had picked up significantly by the time he had pulled the last string- and he could feel the sand grains beginning to irritate his eyes. Without a seconds hesitation, he crawled inside it and fastened the flap. Almost exactly two minutes later the screeching of the wind was all that he could hear, along with the thousands of sand grains scattering across the exterior of the tent.

"Well, at least he did it," Leon commented, pursing his lips. "What's the time he got, Matt?"

Matthias walked over to the side of the box, looking at a series of digital numbers that had randomly appeared. He read them, eyes widening.

"Holy crap..." he whispered to himself.

"Matt?" Tino called. He was worried for Lukas, as he had warmed up to him quite a lot since their first meeting. He admired him greatly- especially after the fierce punch he had given their leader.

"He's got a perfect score," Matt called dubiously, tapping the screen. "And I don't mean high score, as in absolutely _perfect_. A perfect time, a perfect way of assembling the tent..."

Vladimir whistled. "Is that even possible?" He asked, looking at the others.

"Apparently so," Leon mumbled, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. Im Yong went to reply, when he caught the triumphant expression on Tino's face. He sighed and bowed his head.

"Ok, you won, Tino,"

"I knew he'd do well!" Tino cheered, bouncing excitedly on his heels. "I mean of course he would- he's done so well in the other tests and punched Matt in the jaw, so it's only natural that-"  
"So, what do you say?" Feliks interrupted, fixing the Ignoraimless leader with a hard stare. Matthias didn't respond for a second or two, before he grinned and slapped the button- the storm almost immediately dying down.

"Boys, we have ourselves a new Ignoraimless."

With that, he slid the panel open again and stood back with the others, waiting to congratulate and welcome the new member of their group.

 **XoXoX**

"I had no doubts he could do it," Emil boasted to the others, taking another sip of his water. "Lukas can accomplish anything once he puts his mind to it."

All the Ignoraimless had settled around one table at dinnertime, describing to Emma and Emil and whoever else was listening what had happened and how perfect Lukas's score was. Lukas felt his chest swell with pride when his little brother spoke highly of him. Usually he complained about Lukas mothering him and whatnot, along with insulting him at every turn.

"I can imagine!" Tino replied, smiling at both brothers over a mug of coffee.

"Does that mean that we can expect good things of you, then?" Emma asked playfully, adjusting her glasses. Emil opened his mouth to answer then closed it, before huffing.

"What's wrong?" Lukas asked, noticing Emil's discomfort.

"Emil complained about virtually everything he had to do today- whether it was directly or indirectly. I think he'd much rather be out in the field with you all rather than stuck with me," Emma replied. Emil grumbled something in response and stared down at his plate of food, before glancing up at Lukas.

"Can I join you all?" The puppy face that followed directly usually would have broken any resolution that Lukas had. He and Emil both knew that that was Lukas's weakness, as he thought his baby brother was the cutest thing in the existence of humanity- and he made no move to conceal it. However, his brotherly instincts about the dangers he would undoubtedly face made him shake his head.

"Brother dearest, my cute, adorable, hard-working, handsome, small, brilliant, grumpy little brother... how can I say no to that face?" Emil blushed heavily and avoided the eyes of everyone at the table, who had started snickering. "The answers no though, Emil. It's too dangerous," Lukas said, deciding not to humiliate Emil further.

"You'll end up running back crying to your bro," Leon added, smirking at Emil- who was seated directly to his left. Emil noticed his teasing tone and scowled at him.

"How do you know that... er..."  
"Leon,"

"Leon?" Emil finished.

"I can just tell," he replied.

Lukas left his brother and fellow Ignoraimless to their almost flirtatious banter, instead turning his attention to Alfred who had taken a seat at their table. "Hey, Bondevik, a little birdie told me you've become an Ignoraimless!"

"It would appear so," Lukas replied.

"What position or whatever did they put you in?"

"Co-leader," Lukas replied. "It was the only position with the score I got."

"And not at all at Matt's input," Vladimir said with a wink.

"Of course not," Lukas snapped, unaware of the look the others were exchanging across the table. Matt- after scoffing down his dinner- had disappeared somewhere and hadn't come back yet leaving Lukas to wonder where on earth he was. "This is strictly due to my score."  
"Totally," Feliks murmured dryly, pushing his tray away from him.

"How's your job going?" Lukas asked Alfred, effectively ignoring Feliks. Alfred made a face.

"Well," he began. "I've been put as a builder. Believe it or not I have actually got muscle, so they've set me the task along with some other unfortunate souls to expand the Complex. It's not that bad really, the people I'm put with are cool."

"How about the others?"

"Well, Feliciano's doing pretty well. You can tell by the food improvement,"

"It's actually _edible_!" Im Yong laughed, then yelped when a spoon struck the back of his head.

"I heard that, you cheeky brat!" Jett called, making Im Yong sheepishly apologise.

"Raivis was put with him too, so things are going quicker in the kitchens," Alfred continued, ignoring the sudden drama. "Feliciano's pretty much adopted him, so he'll be fine. From what I've heard Maxim and Natalya are doing well in the farms and fields. They're enjoying it at least. I'm not entirely sure what happened to Dmitri, but he's around here somewhere."

Lukas nodded. A small part of him was glad that the Ignoramus he arrived with had settled in well. He was even gladder to see that Emil was getting on well with Emma too- and even Leon by the looks of it. A sudden feeling of content and relief flooded through him. He had been so worried since they arrived that he and Emil would be rejected by this society, but it seemed to be that they had settled in and had been accepted as part of a new family. For that- Lukas was immensely grateful.  
"Oh, look who it is," Vladimir grinned, his ruby eyes alight with a mischievous glint. Lukas turned his head to see Matthias weave his way through the tables and masses of people to the Ignoraimless. Lukas was slightly surprised when he made a beeline for him and then raised an eyebrow when Matthias smiled awkwardly at him.

"Hey, can I talk to you?"

The others at the table wolf-whistled, making Matthias and Lukas alike scowl at them. "Any more comments then you'll all be on stale rye bread for a week," Matthias huffed, his threat empty. The others quietened down though, enough for him to lead Lukas out the hall.

"So... are you happy about being an Ignoraimless?" He asked as they continued walking. Lukas didn't look up at him, instead focusing on the end of the corridor.

"You all seem decent, so I guess I'll be able to tolerate it," he replied in a monotone voice. Matthias grinned at his new second in command, knowing there was no weight to his words.

"That's good. I'm happy you're able to work with us."  
"Where are we going?" Lukas asked him, this time meeting his eyes. Matthias just winked.

"You'll see,"

He lead him through the maze known as the Complex- deeper and deeper under the scorching sands until he stopped at a door. He opened it, then held it open for Lukas. In the room was what Lukas recognised as the Ignoraimless sand uniform, lining the walls and even the floor, with only a small curtain to prove to be the changing area.

"It's time to get you fitted for your uniform, Lukie," Matthias said excitedly, gesturing to the room.

"It's 'Lukas'," Lukas replied sardonically before running a hand along the jackets.

"Hold on, let me see which will fit you..." Matthias scanned the jacket rail before unhooking one and holding it up to Lukas. After a few seconds, he nodded and darted around the room, collecting the rest of the uniform before handing it to Lukas. "Ok, go put it on,"

Lukas made his way over to the curtain, pulling it tightly around his small frame, before sliding off his old clothes and getting into his new ones. First came the tight trousers, followed by the light shirt and thick belt, then the heavy coat, the goggles, the sturdy boots and finally the thick gloves. After he had changed, he opened the curtain again, peering uncertainly at Matthias.

"Aren't I missing something?"

Matthias grinned and produced a light blue scarf from his pocket, with the letter 'B' for what Lukas assumed was "Bondevik" embroidered on it. Lukas took it and wound it around his lower face and neck, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the new clothing.

"It suits you!" Matthias told him, his eyes scanning the clothing that was still scratchy and unused. He'd have to get used to it though, Lukas thought, as he'd probably spend every day in his new life in them.

Lukas turned to walk out the door when he was stopped by Matthias clearing his throat. "Hang on a minute..." he said, fishing in his other pocket. From that he produced a small clip- made of metal, in the shape of a cross. Lukas blinked at it, then looked up at the other.

"This is my congratulatory present," Matthias told him. "May I?"

Lukas nodded uncertainly, before his leader stepped forward and slid the pin into his hair so that it took some of his long fringe out of his face. Lukas reached up tentatively to touch the cross, as Matthias shifted slightly uncomfortably.

"It was my mothers," he explained. "I thought it would suit you. I thought right."

Lukas stared up at him, remembering the conversation he had with Im Yong about the blond's biological mother. As a thank you, he gave Matthias a faint smile, tilting the corners of his lips slightly. Unbeknownst to him, a small blush had covered his cheeks. "Thank you,"

Matthias looked at him, a little startled, before blushing a crimson red himself. "You're welcome."

With that, Lukas rolled his eyes and shoved the other male in the chest, before starting for the door again. "C'mon, you dork. You didn't let me finish my food."

Matthias grinned and followed him.

* * *

 **A/N:** heeeeeey guess who's back with another chapter? Not an awful lot goes on, just... slight fluff I guess? I apologise if I didn't make it clear Lukas hadn't received a cross beforehand... but well, at least you know now!

Anyway, there's some DenNor and HongIce as you can see, but as you can also see things are about to get interesting as Lukas's life is about to turn upside down again... That poor kid. We're getting to the real plot of the story now people, which I've been so excited to write ;D

With that, I would like to thank you all for the lovely reviews! It's very inspiring and makes my day!

Now, I will sign off!

See you in the next chapter~!


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